


Sacrifice: A Life is Strange Story

by DerekS



Category: Life Is Strange, Life Is Strange (Video Game)
Genre: Existentialism, F/F, Love, Time Travel
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-04-22
Updated: 2019-04-22
Packaged: 2020-01-23 01:15:10
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 27,098
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18539296
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/DerekS/pseuds/DerekS
Summary: Following the "BAE" ending of Life is Strange, Max and Chloe leave Arcadia Bay. Things do not go as planned. Max begins to have visions... Visions from the past that will jeopardize her future with Chloe. These visions are from Chloe's past and because of what Max sees and experiences, her life with Chloe will never be the same.





	Sacrifice: A Life is Strange Story

**Author's Note:**

> Featured Trailer: https://youtu.be/42YVoNIgD5I

**Sacrifice: A Life is Strange Story**  
**By: Derek**

_“You were given a power. You didn't ask for it...and you saved me. Which had to happen, all of this did...except for what happened to Rachel. But without your power, we wouldn't have found her!”_ -Chloe Price

_I love her, and that's the beginning and end of everything._ -F. Scott Fitzgerald  
  


_“In a universe of ambiguity, this kind of certainty comes only once, and never again, no matter how many lifetimes you live.”_  
                                                                                                                ― Robert James Waller, The Bridges of Madison County

 

* * *

 

**Acknowledgements:  
**  
I want to say thank you first and foremost to the #WeAreLIS Twitter family. There are too many to name but their daily support, appreciation and passion for Life is Strange inspired me to write this story.  
  
This story could not come to reality without three very important people: My co-worker, Lauren who proofread and edited and tweaked my inability to use the English language in addition to many, many suggestions and consultations. Another co-worker Karina for her invaluable feedback and my LIS partner-in-time RegularDan (@DanielHugoGray), whose tireless efforts, passionate ideas and authorship greatly surpassed my ability to tell this story. Words cannot express my appreciation.  
  
And most of all, I want to say thank you to my wife of 10 years for her support. I have been lucky enough to find my soulmate and I love her more than words can say.

**Dedication:  
**  
I dedicate this story to everyone that is searching for their Max or Chloe. My hope and wish is that you find them and experience a lifetime of happiness and love.

**Author’s Note:  
**  
Late in the story, I take a liberty with Max’s power. It is necessary for the story. Just know that in this one possible timeline that I chose….well, this one time, Max’s power was a little bit different.

* * *

  _ **Prologue - The Departed** _

  
**Where've you been?**  
**I've looked for you forever and a day.**  
**Where've you been?**  
**I'm just not myself when you're away.**  
                                                     - _Where Have You Been, Kathy Mattea_

The young woman worked furiously at the computer. She was lost in a world not her own. She was obsessed and everyone around her knew she was and that was okay by her. She would do anything she had to do to find her friend. No not just her friend, her soulmate.  
  
 Her desk was littered with newspapers and articles from magazines. She had some stories that were highlighted and dog-ear’ed. In some cases, pages were ripped from the magazine. She had stacks of good leads and others that were just a waste of time. Every story was similar in the “good leads” stack. Witnesses would talk about feeling like time was missing or time had been messed with. Some stories would even reference a woman who seemed mysterious and then was just simply no longer there. Some of the stories came from the “supermarket tabloids” and the young woman thought it was ironic that she now considered this “news”.  
  
Books stacked on the desk and the floor had titles dealing with time, the “butterfly effect,” physics and a whole lot of terms she didn’t understand. She even had books on the supernatural and phenomena dealing with time and time loss. She knew some of these books were useless, written by “so-called” experts just to make some quick money. But she knew that everything she could read or learn might help.  
  
As the young woman looked up from her computer, she reached over and grabbed another story off of the printer. She turned and pinned it to the board and she took a step back. She chuckled because the board was like something you would see in those detective movies - a giant wall map with things pinned all around, dated and numbered as if they were looking for a missing person. And in a way, they were. It even had the proverbial string connecting the dots, trying to connect lead to lead. So far, no luck.  
  
She glanced over the story again. The woman thought to herself that maybe this is it. They had been searching this whole time, for well over a year, and now, she found the best lead of all. The article was from one of those artsy magazines out of San Francisco. This is not a magazine she would normally read or even look at the pictures but when she stumbled upon it, she knew she was on to something. And it was not what the article said...it was what it didn’t say. And just to be sure she had to read the article one more time.

Anon-Art? Does the Artist Even Matter Anymore?  
By: Natalie Snyder  
San Francisco, California

October 28 2021

  
    _Today in a small art gallery in the Mission area of the city, a new kind of art show is in development. Beginning tomorrow, the Kavi Nouveau Gallery will be hosting the first of its kind “Anonymous” art show. That’s right, the artist, (well in this case, photographer) is not known except to the gallery owner. No name. No bio. No speech. No nothing._  
  
_“I know it’s a risk,” says the gallery owner Lauren David “but let me tell you, this young woman’s photography is unlike anything I have ever seen. I simply cannot explain it, but I knew from the moment I first saw it, that she felt brave enough to reach out to me, I had to host it.” I asked her to describe it. “Imagine a real-life Salvador Dali. That’s right, you heard me correctly. She can somehow bend her photographs like Dali bent his art. It looks like she literally bends time.”_  
  
     The young woman looked up from the paper, her hands shaking. “This is it,” she thought, “This is what we have been looking for.” But, she hesitated and tried to calm herself. “Do not get too excited. How many false leads have I seen?” But she knew this felt different. And she had to be sure, so she kept reading.  
       
      _I asked Lauren what she could tell us about the artist. “Not much,” she replied. “She wants to remain totally anonymous but she did give me some details. Apparently she hates publicity and wants to stay out of the public eye. She said that her photography comes from studying the human condition and a lifetime of loss. I knew by talking with her she has had a hard life but that it also served as her inspiration. I asked what she lost and she simply said ‘A love that can never be’. Just hearing the pain in her voice, I did not ask anymore”._  
  
_I asked the owner if she had seen any of her photographs. “Yes, of course. She sent me some samples.” I asked her to describe them. Without a name to go on, I wanted to make sure that you, our reader, could get an idea of this upcoming show._  
  
_She said that the photographs are just simple moments in time. But what makes it unique is the randomness of the pictures she takes._  
  
_“I really do not know how she does it. She seems to be able to catch that quick, flash of time; that fleeting moment that one has to just be damn lucky to see, much less be fast enough to catch with a camera.” “How do you think she does it?” I asked very interested and intrigued at this point. She replied, “I honestly do not know.” She laughed and said, obviously joking, “Unless she is some sort of a time master or can reverse time….I have no clue.”_  
  
     The young woman looked up. Her heart was racing and her palms sweaty. She felt for the chair behind her to make sure it was there and realizing it was, she just fell into it. She looked at the article again and knew, without a doubt, this was it. This was what she had been waiting on, _searching for_ so many years. She paused. Reading this story about this gallery in San Francisco, gave her deja vu. She felt like she had been there in another life, another world. She quickly tried to dismiss the thought but she couldn’t. This feeling told her that this is what she was searching for. She knew what they had to do.  
  
     Grabbing the article, she ran into the other room. Sitting on the couch watching television was a beautiful young woman. Her hair was the color of a warm sunset and her eyes the color of an early autumn forest. Gorgeous would not even begin to describe her. She sat cross-legged, gazing at the television, attempting to guess the value of the prizes on that game show people liked to watch. The Starbucks cup in her hand and athletic gear she wore indicated she had just returned from her morning run.  
  
The young woman plopped down on the couch next to her partner, her wife of these last few years. She threw her arms around her and tried to catch her breath. She held her and laid her head on her shoulder.  
  
Rachel Amber turned to her wife and embraced the welcomed affection. “What is it? What’s going on? Are you okay?”  
  
The young woman responded, still short of breath, “I am not just okay. I am hella okay. Rachel, I found her. I found Max.”  
  
And Chloe Price began to cry.

 

* * *

  **Chapter 1 - The Storm  
**

  
**I love you always forever**  
**Near and far closer together**  
**Everywhere I will be with you**  
**Everything I will do for you**  
                                                        _-I Love You Always Forever,_ Donna Lewis 

**8 years earlier…...**  
  
The two halves of the photograph flew away in the wind. Max Caulfield watched them drift away into the storm and as she did, her gaze shifted to the distant lights of Arcadia Bay. “What have I done?” she thought as tears welled in her eyes. “All those lives, all those families, and I, Max Caulfield, became their jury and their executioner. I got to choose if they lived or died. Their deaths and their family’s loss are on my shoulders. I just can’t…”  
  
Her thoughts trailed off as she heard her partner in time, her soulmate, Chloe Price say, “Max...I’ll always be with you.” Chloe slipped her hand into Max’s and stood there alongside her friend as they watched the storm. Debris spun through the air, rain pelting their faces as they watched this nightmare of a storm move closer and closer to Arcadia Bay.  
  
As the realization of the moment weighed heavier on her, Max turned to Chloe and buried her face into her friend’s chest. In the cold rain, Max could feel Chloe’s warmth and snuggled even closer. Chloe reached out and held Max knowing Max needed her. Chloe understood the weight of this moment and the pain Max was experiencing. Chloe knew it was unfair for Max to have to make this decision, but she also knew Max was the only one who could. She looked out upon the destruction as the storm began to swallow Arcadia Bay like some starving hell-hound that cornered its prey.  
  
As the moment passed, the two girls slowly turned and walked back down the hill. The remains of the lighthouse were crumbling and coming apart. Its light, long faded in the storm, left a destroyed building, and it looked eerie, like something out of a horror movie. Chloe half-carried Max down the hill and back to their truck. Chloe knew Max only weighed 110 lbs. soaking wet, but here, on this weather-beaten hill, Max felt like she weighed hundreds more. Chloe knew it was the weight of the decision that Max carried with her.  
  
As Chloe helped Max into the truck, she reached behind the seat to find an old towel. Smelling it, making sure it did not stink too badly, she handed it to Max. Max did not respond; she showed no emotion and just stared blankly into space. Chloe reached out and wiped water from Max’s eyes; Chloe knew it was a mixture of tears and rain. Making sure Max was safely in the truck, Chloe walked around to the driver’s side and climbed in. She was thankful to be out of the rain and wind.  
  
She looked over at Max and a look of concerned slipped across Chloe’s face. “Max, you can use the towel to dry off. I know you have to be hella wet and cold.”  
  
Max, looking down at the towel, responded “Tha- Thanks Chloe. I am pretty soaked.” Max took the towel and ran it over her hair and face and tried to absorb as much water as she could through her clothes. “Chloe,” Max started in a small voice, “What do we do now? I just destroyed the town. I just ended so many lives.”  
  
“Stop right there, Maxine Caulfield.” Chloe could feel the anger boiling up in her. Not at Max but at the shitty situation. At the hand of cards Max had been dealt. “You did not ask for this. We did not ask for this. The situation was an impossible one and you handled it the best way you could. So don’t go beating yourself up over your choice.”  
   
Max and Chloe sat in the truck for what felt like forever. There was an uncomfortable silence that struck them both, as the magnitude of what just happened permeated the air. The storm began to die down and morning sky began to lighten. Chloe could see the sun starting to rise through the lingering clouds. It was almost peaceful….almost. She looked over at Max and could still see the pain on her friend’s face.  
  
Chloe was thankful to be alive yet something was worrying her. “Was Max’s decision to save me now responsible for hurting her?” Chloe thought. In this moment, she could not imagine Max in pain… and to think she might be the cause.  
  
“Max,” Chloe began, “I know you’re in pain. I know you are hurting. I can see it. I know you’re sad and angry for the lives lost. But… But… Do you regret saving me?”  
  
Max turned to look at Chloe. Tears filled her eyes as she reached out with both hands and took Chloe hands and pulled herself closer to Chloe.  
  
“Never,” Max replied. “Never. Not in a thousand years. I wouldn’t trade you, not for anyone. We are still and always will be, Max and Chloe.”  
  
Chloe was not sure how to respond. Max saved her life so many times. Max sacrificed everything. Max had to watch her die. Max helped her find Rachel Amber. Max was there. Max was always there. Even when her Dad died, Max did the best she could to be there for Chloe. Yes a tape recorded was a hella-stupid substitute, but Max tried. “Max always tries…for me” Chloe realized.  
  
Max…  
  
With that, she reached up with both hands and held Max’s face. She pushed the fear, the anxiety, and the butterflies away and leaned in and kissed Max just as Max had done days before and caught her off-guard. She could think of nothing else, no other way to say the words that were building in her heart.  
  
Max returned her kiss. As their lips separated, she scooted across the seat to be next to Chloe. Chloe put her arm around her and held her tight. Chloe did not know what the day would bring but for now, she was at peace. She hoped Max was too. She could feel Max’s breathing slow and her body relax as Max drifted off to sleep. Chloe’s eyes began to feel heavy and she joined her friend in a much needed sleep.  
  
As the sun rose higher into the sky and the noontide hour approached, Max and Chloe stirred.  
  
“Good morning sleepy-head,” Chloe whispered to Max.  
  
Max sat up and for a moment looked around in confusion? “Was it real? Was the storm real? Were the events of the last few days ream?” she thought. “Please be a dream.” “Chloe,” Max began, “What’s going on? What time is it?”  
  
“Yeah, Max. That’s what the big ball of fire in the sky means. Sun good. Sun warm,” Chloe sarcastically responded while giving Max a final squeeze. “ It's around lunch I think. Hell, I don’t know. Max?”  
  
“Yes, Chloe?”  
  
“I think it’s time to leave Arcadia Bay. There’s nothing here for us.”  
  
Max, concerned about everything Chloe lost, looked at her friend and asked, “Should we check on people or look for people? What about Joyce or David?”  
  
"No, Max. No, I do not think we should. There would be questions and no answers. Looking for others would just weigh too heavy on us and what can we do. We can’t change it. We need to go. What would we say to people? How would we...how can we explain any of this? This shit-pit has taken so much from us and never given anything back so I think it's time we just go. Let’s drive the hell out of here and put Arcadia Bay in our past.”  
  
Max was shocked that Chloe had such hate for the town but she knew deep down that Chloe truly had reasons to hate Arcadia Bay more than she did. This town took her father, gave her a step-father so unlike her Dad, took Rachel from her and gave the Prescott’s their fortune so they could probably get away with murder.  
  
“You know what Chloe?” Max answered. “You’re right.”  
  
Chloe loved the sound of that idea. “Where should we go?” Chloe looked over at Max and asked, “Seattle?”  
  
Max shook her head, “No not Seattle.” Max thought about her parents and while she would love to see them, there would be too many questions and no answers.  
  
“Then where Super-Max? Where’d you want to go?  
  
Max was not sure but she knew one thing: “South. Let’s go south. I have always wanted to see San Francisco.”  
  
“South it is,” Chloe responded with a huge grin on her face.  
  
Chloe turned the key in the ignition and the truck revved to life. She reached over to grab Max’s hand and gave it a slight squeeze. She put the truck in drive, and they left the lighthouse for the last time.

As they drove down the overlook towards Arcadia Bay, both girls could feel a sense of dread building in the pit of their stomach. They knew they were about to get a firsthand look at the destruction. They entered Arcadia Bay and immediately gasped. Barely any buildings stood, boats had been flung around like toys and there was debris everywhere. As they passed The Two Whales Diner, Max tightened her grip on Chloe’s hand. She knew this would be hard on Chloe. To see the Two Whales destroyed would be painful for Chloe. The diner was barely visible. Frank’s RV had been tossed on top of the entrance like a toy car. A family of deer frolicked in the roadway and ran as the truck approached.  
  
It was then that Max noticed the sheets covering things in the road and along its side. “What is that?” she wondered aloud.  
  
“Bodies.”  
  
Max held her breath. “Make it stop” she thought. “Please make this nightmare end. Drive faster Chloe. I do not want to see this.”  
  
The bodies were everywhere. Some covered with sheets but others still lying in the open.  
  
“Is anyone alive? How can anyone be alive? I did this!” Max thought.  
  
Then she realized that they saw no signs of human life. No sign that this was once a town. It was empty except for death and destruction. Max felt like she might throw-up and she began to tremble...to shake at the sight before her.  
  
Chloe looked over and realized what her friend was going through. Chloe could tell the pain and loss on her friend’s face. She knew Max felt hella guilty and probably suffered from some sort of shock. And it wasn’t helping that she couldn’t do anything. She was even more frustrated because she could not drive faster - the debris in the roads made this treacherous enough. As she looked over at Max, she could see the pain and the sadness on her face. She reached out to comfort Max. At the edge of town, Chloe stopped the truck for a moment. The open road was before them and where it led she did not know. But she knew that she had Max and they would be together. The future was theirs.  
  
Like a flash of light, memories came flooding back. This moment. This was the moment she had dreamed about for so long. The moment caught Chloe off-guard. She was not prepared to be leaving Arcadia Bay right now. Her mind wondered and she caught a glimpse of a fleeting memory of her and Rachel and their plans to leave all those years before.  
  
Chloe smiled and thought to herself, “I am doing it Rachel. It may not be with you, and you may not be here with me, but I am finally leaving this hell-hole. Wherever you are, I just wanted you to know that. I love you Rachel Amber and part of me always will. I could not stop the awful shit you had to go through but I will stop it or anything else like it from happening to Max. I love her, and I will protect her - unlike how I failed to protect you.” Chloe could feel the tears well-up in her eyes but she quickly wiped them away. She knew she had to be strong for Max.  
  
Max looked over at Chloe and saw her wipe the tears from her eyes. It surprised Max that Chloe was upset and she wondered why. “All Chloe has ever talked about is leaving this place. Now that we are, she is upset. I really don’t understand.” Max, knowing the gravity of the situation and all the shit they were facing, did not want to burden Chloe with any questions.  
  
As Chloe glanced out the window, she saw the Arcadia Bay sign she had seen for so many years:  
  
Thank you - come again.  
  
“Yeah f- that” Chloe thought and with that she gave the truck some gas and she and Max left Arcadia Bay forever. The past was finally behind them. Or so they thought.

* * *

**Chapter 2 - The Inferno**

**Look into my eyes**  
**You will see**  
**What you mean to me**  
**Search your heart**  
**Search your soul**  
**And when you find me there, you'll search no more**  
                                                               - _Everything I do_ , Bryan Adams

  
Max awoke with a start. She realized quickly as her vision cleared that she was no longer in Chloe’s Truck. “Chloe” she uttered almost instinctively expecting Chloe to be there, to be by her side.  
  
Instead Max was greeted by the sound of a warm, late spring evening in Oregon. Looking around she quickly realized she was in the park; a park she knew well. It was the park at the Overlook in Arcadia Bay. She often visited to take pictures and spend some time with just her and her photography.  
  
But this time she was not alone. She looked further ahead and made out the slim figures of two young women obviously enthralled in a deep conversation. Max instantly knew them. She recognized them in her mind’s eye even before realizing it. Chloe Price and Rachel Amber. A younger Chloe Price for sure and she thought the same about Rachel.  
  
Max gasped. “What’s going on?” she wondered aloud. “What am I seeing? Did I jump? Am I dreaming?”  
  
Max thought back to leaving Arcadia Bay. The last thing she remembered was sitting in Chloe’s truck driving south out of town. She did not have a photograph nor did she jump.  
  
“Is this a dream?” she thought. “Rachel Amber is obviously alive so it must be. But… it seems so real. She and Chloe both look younger and Chloe does not have her blue hair. What is going on?”  
  
Max knew from the last few days that she was seeing this, whatever it was, for a reason. She knew that this might be important, there might be a reason for her to be here so she decided to inch closer to the two girls.  
  
As Max moved forward, she realized she was almost floating. Her feet did not touch the ground. Max chuckled. “Is this what it's like being a ghost?” She thought. “Ooooooooo,” she said aloud but Chloe and Rachel did not hear. She laughed in spite of herself.  
  
As she got close to the girls, she began to feel guilty. She did not want to spy on them and if this was some sort of memory, she really did not want to betray Chloe’s trust. She could tell from Chloe and Rachel’s mannerisms and facial expressions that they were having a deep and serious conversation.  
  
Max realized that she did not have any choice. She had nowhere else to go and if this is a dream she obviously wasn't waking up anytime soon. So she leaned in and decided to listen. She couldn’t hear every line as the two girls began to speak softly but she heard enough.  
  
Max looked at Rachel. She was obviously very upset and had been crying. She heard Rachel say, “Chloe, I owe you an apology.”  
  
Looking at Chloe, Max could tell that Chloe was very nervous but also worried and upset. Chloe appeared to want to go to Rachel but was giving her space. “It looks like they have been fighting and arguing,” Max thought.  
  
Max could hear Rachel’s voice change and get more serious. “Whatever's going on between us, it's... intense and new and awesome, and… You had the courage to tell me that you feel it, too. And I treated you like shit.”  
  
Max immediately saw a wave of pure emotion wash over Chloe. Clearly, Chloe was taken back by what Rachel said. Max thought to herself, “Chloe did not expect Rachel to say that but Rachel admitted to her that she shares the same feelings. Wow.”  
  
Max was speechless. “Did I hear her correctly?” Max wondered. “Did Rachel just say that she and Chloe have something going on between them? And what is today? When is today? What does this mean? Were Rachel and Chloe in love?” Max’s thoughts caused her to drift away from the conversation as she wondered how serious of a relationship Chloe and Rachel truly had. Chloe had never really talked about her relationship with Rachel and Max now wondered if this is why. “Was Chloe more serious about Rachel than she let on and now she doesn’t want to talk about it because it might hurt me?” Max wondered.  
  
As Max came back to the scene before her, she listened even closer. She did not want to miss anything more.  
  
Chloe turned to Rachel and said, “What I wouldn't give to leave this place and never look back…”

“What's stopping us?” Rachel replied, seizing the moment.

Chloe looked at Rachel and in a very surprised voice asked, “Us? Are you serious?”

Rachel looked at Chloe and Chloe could see the sad truth appear on her friend’s face, “There's nothing keeping me here. Not anymore.”

“So if I came to you tomorrow and told you to pack your bags…” Chloe inquired to Rachel, not sure how she would respond.

“I'm serious. Let's do it, Chloe. Let's leave this place forever.” Rachel agreed. Both Rachel and Chloe paused as the realization of the moment came to them; as the impact of their words washed over them.  
  
Hearing these words, Max simply collapsed onto the cool, damp earth and could not move. “I knew Chloe mentioned that she and Rachel planned to leave town but I did not know they seemed this….serious. And they wanted to leave together? Was it because of their feelings for each other? Is this why Chloe got so upset when we left Arcadia Bay? Did she wish she was leaving with Rachel and not me? Am I not worthy of taking Rachel’s place?”  
  
Max sat there as the vision played out before her eyes. She stopped listening long ago. She was overwhelmed with emotions about Chloe and Rachel. All of the sudden she felt flame erupt around her and heard Rachel scream. Not a normal scream but a powerful, supernatural scream of anger and hate and loss. Not only did she hear it but she could feel it. The scream crashed into her like a wave of emotion that sent Max reeling. She closed her eyes tightly and woke up.

 

* * *

  **Chapter 3 - The Dream**

  
**I hope you never look back, but you never forget,**  
**All the ones who love you, in the place you live,**  
**I hope you always forgive, and you never regret,**  
**And you help somebody every chance you get**  
                                                                           - _My Wish_ , Rascal Flatts

Max awoke with a start. Her heart was racing and she could feel that her hands were sweaty; a cool, damp feeling that reminded her of how she felt when she was nervous. She looked around and quickly realized she was still in Chloe’s truck. She looked over at Chloe and Chloe was focused on driving, looking down the road.  
  
As she sat there, Max thought back to the dream she had. “Yes, a dream. It had to be,” she thought to herself. “There is nothing else it could be. Rachel is dead. I did not jump so it had to be a dream.”  
  
She sat there for several minutes thinking back about what she just witnessed. “It seemed so real,” Max pondered. “How can something seem so real but be a dream? And what did it mean and why am I seeing it?”  
  
She remembered, vividly, Rachel and Chloe planning to leave together and having a connection. The more she thought about it, the more upset she became. And the thought of Rachel and Chloe’s relationship began to really bother her. “How serious were they truly?” Max wondered.  
  
Almost as if she knew Max was thinking about her, Chloe looked over to Max and smiled. “Did you have a nice nap?”  
  
“Yea, sorry Chloe. I didn’t mean to fall asleep, but it’s been a long few days.”  
  
Chloe looked at Max and rubbed her leg, “It’s okay. I know you needed it. Was it a good nap?”  
  
Max looked at Chloe and Chloe’s question puzzled her. “No not really. I had this really bizarre dream.”  
  
Chloe nodded as if agreeing. “I figured. You were very restless and seemed very uncomfortable. I figured it was from trying to nap in this truck.”  
  
“No, that wasn’t it. My dream just seemed very real,” Max replied, hoping Chloe would not ask the typical follow-up question.  
  
She did.  
  
“What was it about?” Chloe asked, and Max could tell she was genuinely curious.  
  
“Damnit” Max thought to herself. She knew discussing this with Chloe would upset her but she did not want to lie to her friend. But, she reasoned, maybe Chloe can give her some answers about her and Rachel. “If I ask Chloe about her and Rachel, in the context of my dream, maybe she will not get too upset.”  
  
“I dreamed about you and Rachel,” Max replied. She looked over at Chloe and Chloe’s face was one of many different, conflicted expressions rolled into one.  
  
“Oh,” Chloe responded. “Truth be told Max, I have thought a lot about her today. With us leaving Arcadia Bay, it brought back a lot of memories of her planning to leave too.”  
  
Max sat there in a stunned silence. “Was I dreaming about Rachel because Chloe was thinking about her?” Max thought. She did not know how to respond but decided to take the opportunity to ask.  
  
“Chloe did you and Rachel plan to leave together? Did you ever plan to go with her? I mean… I know you said you would but was it more than that? Were you both leaving together, like, made plans together?” Max asked.  
  
“Wow, Maxamillian…where did that come from?” Chloe responded shocked and obviously caught off-guard.  
  
“Well,” Max replied, “I know you were friends and she wanted to leave so badly. I feel like you probably would have wanted to leave, too.”  
  
Max sat there and looked at her friend. Chloe just stared blankly into the distance. Max knew that this was a difficult topic for Chloe so she gave Chloe all the time she needed.  
  
“Max,” Chloe began, “There is a lot of stuff about me and Rachel that you don’t know. That I haven’t told you. I cared so much for her. I cannot believe she is gone. I spent all of those months, after she vanished, all alone and hoping she would come back to me. I thought she left without me. And I wouldn’t put it past her; she wanted to leave Arcadia Bay so badly. But to find her body. To know that stupid, f-ing asshole Nathan Prescott killed her and put her body in a junkyard. To know she is gone…”  
  
Chloe’s voice began to crack and tears-welled up in her eyes.  
  
“She deserved so much more Max. She deserved to take the world by storm. She deserved her chance to shine. And now she will never get that. And it breaks my heart to know that.”  
  
“And in addition to that” Chloe continued, “You will never get to know her. You will never meet her. You were so much alike and yet so different. She loved theater and drama and you love art and photography. I think you would have been hella great friends.”  
  
At the thought of this, Chloe smiled and Max smiled too. Max looked up at her friend knowing it would be something Chloe carried with her daily. The loss of Rachel would be with her forever.  
  
Max wanted to know more so she looked at Chloe and carefully asked, “Chloe, may I ask you one other thing about Rachel? Please don’t get mad though.”  
  
“Max, it is hard to talk about this but okay. We have no place to go for now except the open road and I guess we are stuck in this truck for a while longer so why not?” Chloe responded obviously a little irritated at the question.  
  
Max took a deep breath. “Chloe, did you love Rachel? I know you said she was your angel but were you in love with her?”  
  
“Damn Max, you don’t pull any punches today, huh? What brought this on? You went straight for the heart with that one!” Chloe said, almost laughing at the directness of the question.  
  
Max sat there not knowing what to say.  
  
“Max, I told you I was not her groupie and that is true” Chloe answered. “I am not anyone’s groupie. I am my own groupie. But…” Chloe trailed off.  
  
“Rachel was there for me when you left. She was my angel because she saved me. I was in a bad place. You left, my Dad died and for a long time, I felt empty. I filled my life with anything that would take the pain away. I felt like the world could go F- itself and I took shit off nobody. Then one night at a Firewalk concert, Rachel saved me from these two guys. We kicked their asses and from that moment on, we were inseparable. We grew closer and after a short while, I fell for her. And she for me. We had a connection that was… unexplainable.”  
  
“But yes Max, I loved her. I fell in love with her and yes, to answer your first question, we did plan to leave Arcadia Bay together. But we were young and stupid. Rachel was so determined to leave and she was going to let nothing stop her. I just felt like I was along for the ride. But yes Max, I loved her. And if you had met her, you would have loved her too. That is who she was.”  
  
Chloe continued. “Rachel was like fire. She was warm, passionate and all-consuming; however, she also was dangerous and out of control. There were two sides to her. I was lucky enough to see both and that is why I fell in love with her.”  
  
Chloe chuckled. “And you want to hear an ironic part. Did you ever hear or read about the major forest fire in Arcadia Bay a few years ago? It burnt up a lot of the area near the overlook? Well, Rachel caused that. She and I had a huge fight and we met later at the Overlook. You know the place with the park and all that?”  
  
Max held her breath. She couldn’t move. Chloe was describing the dream she had. “F- …this is getting all too real. Again.” Max thought. All she could do was to nod to answer Chloe’s question.  
  
“Well Rachel found out that night her Dad was cheating on his wife. Or she thought he was. His wife was not Rachel’s birth mom. But come to find out we caught him kissing her actual birth-Mom, a woman named Sera. I know, some crazy shit, right? Anyway,  
I will tell you more later. Long story short, she was pissed, she burnt this picture of her and her Dad because she was so angry. She threw it in the trash and out of anger, kicked the can over. It was so dry, the tree next to it went up in flames. I will never forget it. I just stood there and watched her stare at the fire.”  
  
Max felt frozen and stuck in place and in time. Words failed her.  
  
“And Max, this may sound crazy but after the last few days, maybe not so much. I will always remember Rachel letting lose a scream. It was almost supernatural. There was so much pain behind it. I just stood there. I didn’t know what to do... Sorry, I rambled and I am not sure why I told you that but that was who Rachel was. She was unpredictable.”  
  
“Are you okay with knowing this?” Chloe asked. “She meant a lot to me and I loved her but that is all in the past. You came back to me and we are together now. That is all that matters. Are you sure you’re okay?”  
  
Max nodded. The realization that her dream was anything but a dream overwhelmed Max. She felt light-headed and nauseous. “My dream was not a dream. It was Chloe’s memories. But how? How did I see it? I didn’t jump. But I saw it.”  
  
“Can we stop and get something to eat. I need some air and am pretty hungry.” Max asked rather sheepishly and sick to her stomach from all of the emotions coursing through her.  
  
“Sure super-Max. I saw a sign for a Denny’s near Redding.” Chloe agreed. “It’s just a few more miles up the road.”  
  
“Thanks, Chloe” Max replied. Unable to face Chloe with what Chloe said about Rachel and now knowing her dream was something more, Max stared out of the window wondering what it all meant. “No Chloe. I am not okay. I am anything but ok,” Max thought to herself.

* * *

**Chapter 4 - The Bond**

  
**Shake your hair, have some fun**  
**Forget our mothers and past lovers, forget everyone**  
**Oh, I'm so lucky, you are my best friend**  
**Oh, there's no one, there's no one that knows me like you do**  
                                                                       - _Bros_ , Wolf Alice

  
Max had a restless night. After their dinner at Denny’s, Max and Chloe decided to find somewhere to get some clothes since they left with only the clothes on their back. They visited a thrift store called Second Helping and then went to a local Safeway to grab some snacks and toiletries. They found a decent Motel 6 with a room available. They decided it was a good time to rest and think about their future plans. Max was excited, yet apprehensive about going to San Francisco. She had always wanted to go but with everything going on, she was not sure if the big city was the place for her and Chloe. But first they needed some rest. Both of them planned to take a long, hot shower and an even longer nap. No alarm was set. However, for Max, sleep came in fleeting waves, disjointed moments that felt so out of the ordinary she couldn’t tell dreams from reality. For this reason when she awoke, she wasn’t sure if it was a dream.  
  
Max realized she wasn’t in her motel room any longer. Gone was the warm bed and semi-comfortable pillow. Instead, she was inside what appeared to be a train car. It was very old looking, wooden with a lot of graffiti written and drawn all over the walls. Boxes and crates of all sizes took up space in the car. Peeking around them, she could make out Rachel and Chloe sitting on some pallets.  
  
Max thought back to her first vision. The realization that, not only were Chloe’s feelings for Rachel much stronger than Max first thought, but because of those feelings they planned to leave Arcadia Bay together, and this shook Max to her core. Knowing the emotional rollercoaster the first vision caused, Max felt like she was not prepared.  
  
“Not again,” Max thought. “Why am I having this dream? Why am I being forced to see Chloe and Rachel together? Wasn’t last time enough? WHY THE F- is this happening?” she screamed inside her head.  
  
Max tried to calm herself down. Knowing, like last time, she would have to overhear what was being said to be able to escape this dream; she listened closely. She knew, after her conversation with Chloe after the first one, this was also a memory of Chloe’s past. While these moments were upsetting, Max also realized it was rather comforting to see parts of Chloe’s memories.  
  
“It’s nice Rachel we’re having,” Max heard Chloe say, stumbling over her words.  
  
“What?” Rachel replied.  
  
“I mean weather. It’s nice weather.” Chloe stammered.  
  
Max laughed under her breath. Even with Rachel, Chloe was so hella cute. She obviously was very nervous and uncomfortable. “But,” Max thought, “that is Chloe Price. Whenever Chloe got uncomfortable or nervous she had trouble stringing words together coherently. When she is being flirty, it's even worse.  
  
Remembering what Rachel said during the first vision, she wondered if this was part of what was “new and intense.” Were Rachel and Chloe already acting like they were together? Were they already this close?” Max didn’t know what to think. She wanted to understand what relationship Rachel and Chloe had, but it also hurt. She loved Chloe and seeing Chloe flirt with Rachel was painful for her to experience.  
  
Max continued to watch as the scene unfolded before her. She realized how much she envied Rachel; to be able to spend this time, this period of Chloe’s life with her...Rachel got to do it and it made Max jealous and guilty as hell. She still was angry with her parents for making her leave Chloe and leave especially right after Chloe’s Dad’s funeral. Max would forever be angry about that.  
  
Max returned to the scene before her. “They are playing two truths and a lie.” Max thought. “Chloe and I played this all the time and Chloe really is not that good at it. She likes to tell all lies or all truths and cheat!” Max continued to listen and listened closely to Rachel’s guesses.  
  
Max’s mouth dropped open and she was shocked. “Rachel is much better at this game than I am. She knew everything about Chloe. How did she do it? Maybe they are meant to be…”  
  
“No, just no” Max thought. “Rachel is dead. They can never be. And besides Chloe is with me. I have nothing to worry about from a dead Rachel Amber.”  
  
Max regretted the thought before she even finished it. She knew part of Chloe would always miss Rachel. She remembered Chloe’s grief that day in the junkyard when they found Rachel’s body. Chloe’s words, _“Who does this? What kind of world does this?”_ still echoed in Max’s mind. And since Rachel meant so much to Chloe, part of Max would also mourn Rachel and wish things were different. Jealous or not, that’s how thing were.  
  
She sat there watched as the two girls shared headphones and listened to some music. Max could tell they both liked the song but she could not make it out. Max thought that they genuinely looked happy together. They seemed like maybe they were meant to be together; like fate and destiny were pushing them together.  
  
Max started to think about herself and Chloe. “Where does this leave me?” she thought. “Are Chloe and I meant to be together? Is our future one where we are in each other’s lives? Max hoped so but there was no denying the connection Rachel and Chloe had together.  
  
As the train slowed she heard Rachel tell Chloe to “JUMP” and Chloe tentatively refused but Rachel was not taking no for an answer, and grabbed Chloe’s hand and they jumped together. Max was alone on the train. Not knowing how to handle what she had seen and the emotions she felt, how to process seeing Chloe and Rachel together, Max laid down on her side and pulled her knees to her chest. She closed her eyes and wished the dream would end but could not stop thinking about what life would have been like if Rachel had lived.

* * *

**Chapter 5 - The Connection**

  
**I'll be your dream, I'll be your wish, I'll be your fantasy.**  
**I'll be your hope, I'll be your love, be everything that you need.**  
**I love you more with every breath, truly madly deeply do**  
**I will be strong, I will be faithful 'cause I'm counting on a new beginning.**  
**A reason for living. A deeper meaning.**  
                                                                             - _Truly, Madly, Deeply_ , Savage Garden

  
Max awoke even more tired than when she went to sleep. She was still in bed with Chloe. A feeling of relief washed over her as she looked around their room in the motel, realizing she was there and not in the train car with Chloe and Rachel any longer. Chloe was still sleeping and getting a much deserved rest.  
  
Given her emotional state and lack of restful sleep, Max decided to not wake Chloe and take the opportunity to have that long, hot shower she had been looking forward too. She got out of bed and gathered her things and walked into the bathroom and turned on the water. Testing it, she adjusted it to the right temperature and got undressed. Stepping into the shower and feeling the water hit her face and hair reminded her of just the day before when she stood on the cliff looking out over Arcadia Bay.  
Unlike that cold rain, the warm water felt great. In this peaceful, calm moment, Max thought about the past few days. She did not know what to make of her dreams… no not dreams, these were Chloe’s memories and what they were trying to tell her. She knew she was seeing them for a reason but she was clueless as to why.  
  
Max was so lost in thought that she did not hear the door to the bathroom open. The sliding of the shower curtain startled her and as she turned around she could see a very naked Chloe stepping into the shower. She instinctively tried to cover herself with her arms but Chloe stopped her and smiled. Max had never seen Chloe look at her the way she was right now. Max looked at Chloe and was amazed at how beautiful she was in this moment. Max’s eyes widened in surprise and her jaw dropped as she could feel a burning sensation fill her cheeks as they turned bright red. Her heart raced and she could feel every sensation all over her body. Max was stunned and and a little surprised that this was happening. However, those thoughts were soon replaced with a deeper passion and desire.  
  
Max started to open her mouth to say something but Chloe raised a finger to her lips and simply said “Shhh...no words, not right now. I have been thinking about this moment since you kissed me in my room and there is nothing I want more than _you_ right now.”  
  
Chloe leaned in and kissed Max, and as she did, she brought her hands up and pulled Max into a tight embrace. Their lips parted for a split second as Max gasped in surprise from the overwhelming sensation that was running through her when Chloe's body met hers. Chloe was so close and all Max wanted was for Chloe to kiss her, to touch her, to hold her and be with her in this moment. Her heart was racing. She slightly tilted her head and sheepishly leaned forward to return the kiss. She melted into the kiss... it was the strongest and the most erotic sensation she ever felt, but somehow it wasn't enough... she wanted more. She wanted Chloe in that moment, all of her.  
  
Steam filled the room as their moment gave way to one of continued passion and ecstasy.  
\---*---  
The shower lasted for a long time until there was no more hot water. Chloe and Max stepped from the shower and got dressed and continued to get ready. They gathered their belongings and left the motel. As they climbed in the truck, Max looked at Chloe and smiled. As wonderful as things were with Chloe, she could not help but think back to her dreams, Chloe’s memories and what they mean. And now, would things change between her and Chloe? She never felt more alive, more connected and in love with one person as she did with Chloe. “Is it the high from what just happened? And what happens when the high ends?” Max wondered. She hoped things would not get more complicated.  
  
As they drove south, Max could see San Francisco in the distance. Max was elated. She had always wanted to visit and could not believe it was finally happening. She did not know what the future would hold, but for now she was excited to be here. She looked over to Chloe, took her hand and said “Chloe, thank you so much for being with me and doing all this driving and taking me….us, to San Francisco. I have always wanted to visit. There is so much art and music and photography. The city seems so alive. It feels like somewhere we can start over. Somewhere we can be together.”  
  
“You’re welcome Max. No need to thank me. Just being here, with you, is enough,” Chloe responded. “Where to first?”  
  
“I really want to go to the Mission District. It is known for these street murals that are so beautiful and vibrant with color. There is one street in particular called Clarion Alley that is covered with murals. Many of the murals deal with social justice and awareness. I want to see it so badly.”  
  
“Wow, Max, you take this art thing seriously. I thought you might just want to grab a burger,” Chloe replied jokingly. “To Clarion Alley it is. Can you look it up on my phone?”  
  
“Sure Chloe, let’s see if nav will find it or get us hopelessly lost,” Max answered, laughing since she knew that nav always gets you lost.  
  
A little while later, and after a couple wrong turns, they ended up in the Mission District. Max and Chloe stepped from the truck and Max was immediately in awe. This was so different from Arcadia Bay and from where she was living. The city was truly alive like she had hoped. People were out and about walking the streets, artists were up on ladders painting murals, the aroma of wonderful food permeated the air. Max grabbed Chloe by the hand and broke into an almost run. She was so happy. Beside her  
  
Chloe smiled realizing how much this meant to Max.  
  
They spent hours walking the streets. Max took photo after photo. They visited Clarion Alley and Balmy Alley. Max’s favorite mural was the _The Women’s Building MaestraPeace Mural_ painted by 7 different women which “honored women’s contributions around the world.” After visiting the murals and grabbing a bite to eat, Max and Chloe visited an art gallery. It was a newer gallery and it specialized in non-traditional art from non-traditional artists. “Cutting-edge” was the way it was described in the brochure Max picked up. They spent hours at the _Kavi Nouveau_ gallery.  
\---*---  
That night they enjoyed a great dinner and had a cappuccino at Slightglass Coffee before booking a room at the El Capitan hotel. They were tired but also so happy to have a day to themselves. No storm. No Arcadia Bay. No plans for the future. Just Max and Chloe. Together.  
  
“Chloe,” Max began, “I cannot even begin to thank you for today. It was so awesome.” Max leaned over and kissed Chloe on the cheek.  
  
“You can thank me by letting me sleep,” Chloe said in an exhausted voice. “Just kidding, Max. No need to thank me. I am happy to be here. In the city. With you.” Chloe reached up and held Max’s chin before kissing her deeply and longingly. She held Max and they set there on the bed together, wishing the day would never end.  
  
Chloe sat up and looked at Max. “Max, as great as today was, we can’t do this forever. I hate to ruin our great day but we need a plan. We need somewhere to live, somewhere to work - jobs to pay the bills you know? I have the money I have saved but it will run out quickly.”  
  
Max frowned. She knew Chloe was right but did not want this feeling to end. “Chloe, can we talk about it in the morning? It has been such a great day and we are both so tired. I think a good night’s sleep will clear our heads and we can talk about it then. I don’t think my brain would work enough to make plans tonight.”  
  
Chloe slid over to her and embraced her. They snuggled into the sheets and pillows together. “Sure Max. Morning it is,” Chloe agreed.  
  
Max smiled. Everything seemed perfect. But as she drifted off to sleep, she felt a feeling of dread that it would not remain this way. She was happy to live in the moment and to simply not care about the future but if the last few days had taught her anything, it was that the future will always come for you when you least expect. Fate and destiny will not go unfulfilled. Her last thought before falling asleep was that she hoped that she would not have anymore dreams or see any more memories of Chloe’s. She hoped they were over.

* * *

**Chapter 6 - The Promise**

  
**In the dead of night I'll meet you in my sleep**  
**And in the morning light you'll wake up next to me**  
**Like a dream come true I'll take you where I roam**  
**Then follow you back home**  
                                                            - _Taking You There_ , Broods

“Not again,” Max said in an exasperated voice. “Why am I seeing this? I do not want to see more Rachel and Chloe moments. I have had enough!”  
  
Max realized she was at Blackwell, sitting in the outdoor, temporary theater. On stage, she could see two figures dressed in costume. Signs for William Shakespeare’s _The Tempest_ advertised the play. Looking closely, Max could see that one of the two figures was Rachel Amber. She was dressed in a beautiful blue outfit that made her look even more beautiful. “How is _that_ even possible?” Max wondered.  
  
“Damn” Max thought. “I can see why Chloe fell for her. She is so beautiful.” Max wished she had her camera with her as this moment in time was incredible. “Where is Chloe?” Max thought as she looked around.  
  
Squinting her eyes to look even closer, she could make out the other figure and she gasped.  
  
“Chloe?!” Max exclaimed! Thankfully nobody could hear her. Chloe was dressed in the most outlandish outfit Max had ever seen. “What is she supposed to be?” Max thought as she tried to stifle her laughter…it didn’t work.  
  
Intrigued at the scene before her, Max listened closely. People seemed mesmerized watching Rachel and Chloe. Rightfully so, the two of them on stage, in those costumes, on this beautiful evening, with a mountainous fire as their backdrop….Max wished for her camera again.  
  
     Rachel: I never said how dearly I hold thee; my habit's been to keep my soul well-draped. Most loyal spirit, companion and friend... Is acting in my service not replete with excitement, amusement, and delight?  
  
     Chloe: Of course, mistress...most truly it is so.

     Rachel: Then, why, I pray you, wish you to be free  
  
     Chloe: Excitement's...a mere...counterfeit of bliss. These storms and these adventures? I prefer...to know...thou still cared for my...plainest self.

     Rachel: I have thee in my grasp; I will not bend. I will not see thee flying forth alone. The envy would be more than I could bear.  
  
     Chloe: So come with me! Is that not in thy power?

     Rachel: Spirit, take my hands, most faithful friend.

     Rachel: For but a little longer I beseech: continue in thy service to my schemes. And when they are complete, I swear to thee: we shall fly beyond this isle, the corners of the world our mere prologue. I'll seek to make thy happiness so great that e'en the name of liberty's forgot. What sayest thou to my most hopeful wish?

     Chloe: Yes.  
  
Max had never read _The Tempest_ but she was familiar with the other works of Shakespeare and she knew that part of what she just heard was not from anything Shakespeare wrote. She knew in her heart of hearts that Rachel and Chloe were speaking directly to each other; almost as if they were speaking to each other’s soul.  
  
Max had never been so elated and devastated at the same time. Part of her was happy for Rachel and Chloe, that they found each other and found happiness at a time Max was not there and could not be with her. Through these memories and her present conversations with Chloe, she had begun to realize how much Chloe cared for and loved Rachel. Rachel did not just become Chloe’s guardian angel, she became part of her entire life.  
  
_“She did replace me_ ,” Max thought at the same time, devastated at the realization. Just days before, she thought the same thing while they sat in Chloe’s bedroom. But at that time, Max quickly dismissed the thought as the events of the next few days unfolded and she concentrated on helping Chloe find Rachel and dealing with the storm and all it brought. But now, she knew that Rachel truly replaced her. With tears and sadness swelling inside of her, Max wanted to leave this vision, this place. She wanted to run away.  
  
As the tears began to stream down her face and collect on the ground beneath her, Max’s thoughts turned into a more profound realization: _“If Rachel had not gotten mixed up in some bad shit and disappeared and ultimately died, I would have come back to an empty Arcadia Bay. Chloe would have left with Rachel long before I came back to Arcadia Bay. Chloe would have not been there for me. Chloe would be gone from my life forever.”_  
  
“Chloe would have rather left with Rachel than wait for me...”  
  
A searing pain shot through Max’s head and washed over her. She closed her eyes and cringed in response, feeling as if the weight of the entire world had come crashing down upon her. She wanted nothing more than for the dream to end. And the dream soon vanished and she awoke.

* * *

**Chapter 7 - The Truth**

**And high up above or down below**  
**When you're too in love to let it go**  
**But if you never try you'll never know**  
**Just what you're worth**  
**Lights will guide you home**  
**And ignite your bones**  
**And I will try to fix you**  
                                                      - _Fix You_ , Coldplay

Max sat up in bed. She looked around the hotel room she was sharing with Chloe. Chloe was sleeping next to her, totally unaware of what Max was going through. Max reached up to her cheek and could feel wetness. The pain of her dream, and her realization that Chloe would have not been there if she had left with Rachel, was so powerful and so intense that her tears transcended her dream and she was crying in her sleep. She wiped them away and got out of bed. She proceeded to get dressed and walked across the room to sit on a small couch by the window. She pulled her knees to her chest and stared blankly at Chloe sleeping.  
  
Emotion after emotion coursed through her. She was angry at feeling lied to, frustrated that Chloe did not tell her everything, hurt because she saw someone she loved with someone else, and lonely because she felt like she was having to deal with this all by herself. Max felt that some of these feelings were irrational and it would get better with time but in this moment she was overwhelmed.  
  
As she thought back to the dream and the powerful emotions she was experiencing, she began to cry. All she could do was cry. The pain was too great.  
  
As her crying grew more uncontrollable, she saw that Chloe began to stir.  
  
Chloe sat up in bed at the sound of Max crying. She immediately threw back the blanket and ran to Max. She plopped down on the couch and went to put her arms around her. Max held up her hand indicating for Chloe to stop and shook her head.  
  
“Max...what is going on?” Chloe asked. “Why are you crying? Are you hurt? Are you okay?”  
  
Max was crying so hard she couldn’t really speak. She was able to eek out a response. “I- I’m not hurt Chloe. Not physically at least. I had another dream.”  
  
“Oh,” Chloe responded. “I take it that it was a bad one. But Max, it's just a dream. It's not real. It’ll be okay.”  
  
At hearing these words, Max felt her frustration at the moment grow. “Chloe has no clue what I am going through right now. How does she know its not real or I will be okay? That’s the whole reason I am not okay… it is real,” Max thought to herself.  
  
Chloe went to touch her, to rub her arm in a soothing way and Max flinched and pulled away. Chloe sat there stunned not sure what to think.  
  
“That’s just it Chloe,” Max responded with a tone of increasing anger and bitterness in her voice. “It is real. It’s very real.”  
  
Chloe looked at Max surprised with her tone and words. “Max, I don’t understand.”  
  
“No Chloe, you don’t. You think you do, but you don’t. I am the one cursed with this power. I am the one that destroyed Arcadia Bay. I am the one responsible. I am the one that has to suffer because fate and destiny are a bitch. So no, you don’t understand.”  
  
By this point Max was no longer trying to keep her emotions bottled up inside of her.  
  
Chloe tried to say something but Max continued, “Let me finish. No Chloe, I am not having just dreams. My dreams, as I call them, are visions. Visions from the past. From _your_ past.”  
  
“What?” Chloe responded. “What do you mean? Why didn’t you tell me?”  
  
“What am I supposed to say? ‘Hey Chloe. How’s it going? Oh by the way, I am eavesdropping on your memories. I am seeing your private moments with Rachel. No big deal.’”  
  
Max regretted saying it before the words had finished leaving her mouth. “Dammit” she thought to herself.  
  
**“WHAT. THE. F-., MAX?”** Chloe practically screamed, each word its own sentence. “You’re seeing my memories with Rachel? How? Why? Why would you do that?”  
  
“I can’t control it. It just happens,” Max said defensively. As she looked at Chloe, she knew that Chloe was angry. She had seen this look before.  
  
“What are you seeing? What memories have you witnessed? Tell me, Max. Tell me _now_ ,” Chloe demanded.  
  
“I’m not sure. I think they are memories from when you and Rachel started hanging out. You know, long before she...uh….died.”  
  
“Murdered,” Chloe corrected tersely. “Rachel did not die. She was murdered.”  
  
“Yes, murdered,” Max replied. “I thought they were just dreams but you confirmed the first dream was a memory when we were driving to Redding. When I fell asleep in the truck.”  
  
“How did I do that?” Chloe asked.  
  
“My dream was about you and Rachel at the overlook. When she started that fire and screamed,” Max answered. “I heard the two of you planning to leave Arcadia Bay. I also heard you say that something was going on between you and it was new and intense.”  
  
Chloe leaned forward on the couch and put her face in her hands. She could not look at Max. She felt betrayed and almost violated that someone, even Max, saw her personal memories.  
  
“So that’s why you have been asking me all those of those questions. What else? What else have you seen?” Chloe inquired in a quiet monotone, emotionless voice.  
  
“I had two other...uh...dreams...memories,” Max carefully answered. “I saw you and Rachel on a train. You played truth or dare. She was really good at the game.”  
  
“She was really good at a lot of things,” Chloe said directly. “And the other?”  
  
Max was hesitant. She knew the last vision was special. She knew that the moment was a very personal one. How could it not be? The whole scene was incredible.

“The other one. It was, um, you and Rachel were….” Max stammered through her words.  
  
“Just say it, Max.”  
  
“You and Rachel were on stage. You were performing _The Tempest_. You were dressed in a crazy costume and Rachel looked amazing. You both improvised some dialogue about leaving and going away. Together…..” Max’s voice trailed off.  
  
“Yes we did. We made that promise that night,” Chloe answered angrily. “How dare you Max? Those are my memories. Those are my moments with Rachel. Those are my private moments. They are for me alone. Those memories are all I have left of her… of Rachel. I have nothing else from her except memories. And I don’t want to share those with anyone… even you,” Chloe had tears fill her eyes.  
  
Max felt like a knife cut her to her core, to her soul. Chloe’s words were like a dagger.  
  
“Chloe, I didn’t mean to. I didn’t want to. It just happened. Just like how I could mess with time. It just happened.”  
  
“Sure. Always something out of your control. Just take responsibility for it. You probably used your power to jump back in time to spy on me and Rachel. After all you are so curious about her,” Chloe said obviously fed up with the situation.  
  
“That is totally unfair and you know it. I didn’t choose any of this. It chose me. And I cannot jump back. No photographs remember.” Max held her hand out to indicate she didn’t have anything.  
  
“But why _that_ memory?” Chloe responded despondently. “That was the moment I fell in love with her. That was the moment….on that stage….looking into her eyes that everything changed for me. She was so beautiful. I loved her so much.”  
  
“Chloe, why did you not tell me? Whenever I would you ask you about Rachel you would be deliberately vague. She was so much more than your angel.”  
  
“I don’t know. I didn’t want to hurt you. And since Rachel is...is dead, why does it matter, if and what I tell you about her?” Chloe replied.  
  
“It matters to me. She was part of your life. I feel like I am living in her shadow and always will.”  
  
Chloe looked at Max. “I am sorry you feel that way. But I will always love her. Part of me will always love her.”  
  
Max knew what she had to ask. She knew that she and Chloe could not continue on like this if she did not get to the truth.  
  
“I want to ask you a question. And be completely honest with me,” Max asked as she sat down and took Chloe’s hands in hers.  
  
“I will,” Chloe agreed.  
  
“Do you feel about me like you did about Rachel? Had roles been reversed and Rachel left the day your Dad died, would you have made plans to leave with me? Could I have replaced Rachel in your life?” Max took a deep breath unsure if she was prepared for the answer.  
  
Chloe pulled her hands out of Max’s. “I can’t answer that. I don’t know how to.”  
  
“Please, please Chloe...you have too. For us to have any sort of future, I have to know.”  
  
Chloe sat there staring at Max. She could not speak. She did not know how to respond. All she could do was slowly shake her head “no” and she buried her face in her hands as she did.  
  
Seeing Chloe shake her head “no” filled Max with such agony that she could feel her heart break, feel her soul crushed. Max had suspected this but for Chloe confirm it hurt her in ways she could not describe.  
  
Max couldn’t respond. The hotel room felt claustrophobic. The air in the room, oppressive. Max had to go. She had to get out. She had to leave. _Now_.  
  
Without a word, she grabbed her bag and walked over to the door. She looked over at Chloe and paused. Chloe looked up at her, tears in her eyes.  
  
Max held Chloe’s look for a moment and simply said “I’m sorry” before she opened the door and walked out.  
\---*---  
Max was gone for the majority of the day. She spent her afternoon walking the streets of the Mission district, sitting quietly in the _Mission Dolores Park_ and looking at many other murals that adorned the streets and alleyways. Through it all, she continued to think about Chloe and Rachel. She could not dismiss the words Chloe said and the image of Chloe shaking her head “No” was stuck in her head.  
  
After dinner, she returned to the hotel room at the El Capitan. Turning the key in the lock, she hoped beyond hope that Chloe wasn’t there. She slowly opened the door and called, “Chloe?”  
  
No answer came.  
  
Max let out a sigh of relief and dropped her bag on the couch. She wanted to take advantage on being alone by taking a hot shower. She grabbed her things and went into the bathroom. The last shower she took ended very passionately and she knew this one would not end the same way. She turned off the water and continued to get ready for bed. She hoped to be asleep when Chloe got back. She exited the bathroom and as she turned towards the living area of the hotel room, she saw Chloe sitting on the couch. Max froze.  
  
“Hi Max,” Chloe said first.  
  
“Hi Chloe,” Max answered while dropping her clothes and stuff on the floor next to the bed. She sat down on the bed not sure what to do or say next.  
  
“Max… I’m sorry,” Chloe began. “This morning when we were talking and things got heated, I did not choose my words carefully. I did what I always do and let emotions get the best of me. I was angry and hurt. I regret a lot of what I said. I have done a lot of thinking today and if you are willing to listen, I hope to better explain what I meant.”  
  
Max didn’t say a word. She just nodded in agreement.  
  
“What I said about Rachel is true. I loved her. Yes, we planned to leave together and we wanted to kick the world’s ass together. When I told before that she saved me, I was not kidding. She gave me a reason to be, to exist. After you left and my Dad died, I had nothing. Then my Mom invites Step-Ass in and it got worse. I went down a lonely road. And then I found Rachel and everything changed. She rescued me.”  
  
“When Rachel and I met at the concert, you had been gone for over a year. I hadn’t heard from you. I thought you were glad to be gone. You didn’t want me in your life. Max, one phone call, one text, one letter was all it would have taken. But I felt I was not even worth that to you. Do you know how hurt and angry and heartbroken I was? I just lost my best friend! ...And when I needed her the most.”  
  
“I---,” Max interrupted.  
  
Chloe held up her hand. “No Max, I want you to hear this. I need to tell you this. When we were kids, we had planned to be friends forever. We planned to be together and take the world by storm… Oh sorry, that’s a bad way to put it but you know what I mean. We were always going to be Max and Chloe. And then you left. And then nothing. It hurt me. It still hurts me. I know it feels like a lifetime ago but its only been a handful of days since you came back and, prior to that, I had not seen you or talked to you for five years! Five years Max. And you did not come back for me, you came back for Blackwell and that freak Jefferson”  
  
Chloe paused to collect herself and her thoughts.  
  
“When you came back to Arcadia Bay, you still didn’t call me or write. I know you had your reasons. But on top of five years of loneliness and pain, I find out you are back in town for months and still not reach out to me. Damn, Max. It hurt me. I am angry and bitter. My _best_ friend abandoned me when I needed her the most. And I am not talking about Seattle. I am talking about staying in touch. Nothing, not a damn thing prevented you from reaching out. And I felt that, if I truly mattered to you, then why did you not write or call?”  
  
So when Rachel came along, she did replace you. I am sorry for that but what else could I do? I needed someone. I needed a friend and I needed the support from someone. Rachel was there and you were not. It's not fair to you but that’s the way it was.”  
  
“Had Rachel not come along, who knows where I would be or what I would be doing. She saved me from myself. When we first met, I did not expect to fall for her. I wasn’t looking for a relationship. I was looking for a friend. But Rachel and I had this connection. Our relationship just happened. We didn’t even realize it. We fell for each other. I was surprised as anyone. Those years we spent together before she disappeared were wonderful. Not because you weren’t there or Rachel took your place, but because, for the first time in a long time, I was happy... with her.”  
  
“Not a day went by that I did not wish for you to come back to me. I hoped beyond hope that you would return and I could introduce you to Rachel. I wanted you both to meet. I would often think about the three of us and how together we would be unstoppable. I wanted nothing more than you to come back. Rachel even longed to meet you and wanted to get to know you because she knew how much you mattered to me.”  
  
Chloe looked at Max and could see tears in her eyes. She walked to Max and sat down with her on the bed.  
  
“But you didn’t come back. And then Rachel left me too. For 6 months I had nobody. I had nothing. It wasn’t the three of us or the two of us, it was just me. I lost my best friend and the love of my life. Max, how badly I hurt is impossible to convey in words.  
Then you come back to me. And we find Rachel. We destroy the town and here we are. You said it yourself….fate and destiny are a bitch.”  
  
“Chloe,” Max said, “I am so, so sorry. I am sorry for everything. I had no idea what you went through and I am sorry that I did not write or call or anything. If I had it to do over, I would. I would do everything so differently and I would not take you and our friendship for granted. I am so sorry.”  
  
Max looked at Chloe. “But what hurts me the most is you didn't tell me any of this. You didn’t tell me about Rachel. These are things friends talk about, friends confide in each other about. You didn't even do that. I had to find out for myself. I am not sure why I am having your memories as dreams. I feel like I am meant to learn something, to know something; that there is some reason for it. But I don’t know why yet. Trust me, if I find out, you will be the first to know.”  
  
“I agree” Chloe replied. “Maybe we can find out why together. But please understand, I love you and I love Rachel. It's different. You’re my best friend and you just came back to me. Rachel and I had years together to grow together and experience things together. Of course I am going to feel different right now.”  
  
They set their for a long time, just being quiet and together before Max said, “Thanks Chloe. Thank you for telling me and thank you for being my best friend and for being with me. I know things aren’t perfect but I am happy we are together. Can we get some sleep? I’m hella tired.”  
  
Chloe agreed. “Me too. We can talk again in the morning after a good night’s sleep.”  
  
Chloe leaned in and gave Max a kiss on the forehead. “I love you, Maximus.”  
  
Max responded by leaning into Chloe and wrapping her arms around her. “I love you too, Chloe Price.”  
  
As they climbed in bed, Max couldn’t help but expect another vision tonight. In a way, she hoped for it.

* * *

  **Chapter 8 - The Kiss**

**Sweet disposition**  
**Never too soon**  
**Oh, reckless abandon**  
**Like no one's watching you**  
**A moment a love**  
**A dream aloud**  
**A kiss a cry**  
**Our rights**  
**Our wrongs**  
                                               - _Sweet Disposition_ , Temper Trap

  
When the dream started, Max was not surprised. By now she accepted it and after the way the last one ended, she expected there to be more.  
  
Max stood on the street corner and could overhear Rachel and Chloe. The night was beautiful; the kind of night where magical things happened and world seemed at peace. Max kind of hoped this night would not come to an end and she could stay here forever. Her present reality was way too real for her and this was truly an escape.  
  
She could see Rachel and Chloe acting as if they did not have a care in the world. They seemed to be two carefree teenagers out enjoying a beautiful evening. Now what the future held and what they would experience in just a few short years gave Max a feeling of melancholy, of dread.  
  
Max watched as Rachel seemed elated. She smiled as Rachel danced in the street, twirling about without a care in the world. She heard Rachel say, “I love this time of night! Don't you just feel like everything's possible?”

Chloe obviously did not share in Rachel’s aloofness. Max saw that Chloe seemed more distraught and unsure. “Chloe is much more of a realist and needs to be reassured” Max thought to herself.  
  
Max could hear the insecurity in Chloe’s voice. “Rachel... stop. If you don't mean this, it's just making me feel like shit that this life you're describing isn't going to happen.”

Rachel, growing impatient with Chloe’s concerns replied, “For fuck's sake! I've never been more serious in my life. Chloe! What would it take to convince you?  
  
Max became fully aware of Chloe’s nervousness. Chloe was fidgety and unsure of what to do with her hands. Max could feel Chloe’s nervous from where she watched.  
  
Chloe, unsure of her words and how to respond, attempted to speak with a short mumble of words, “How about... um…”  
  
Max could tell that Rachel immediately knew why Chloe was nervous and what she wanted but had a difficult time for which to ask. Max heard Rachel say, in barely a whisper, but in clear understanding and agreement, “Oh.”

Max could not believe what she was seeing. She held her breath as Rachel walked to Chloe and held her face in her hands and kissed her. The kiss was long and passionate; a kiss that was a long-time coming and seemed very special.

As they separated, Max heard Rachel ask Chloe, “Is that convincing enough?”  
  
Chloe could barely respond with a “Ye—” before Rachel kissed her again. Max watched as Rachel and Chloe embraced and drew each other close.

Max’s eyes almost popped out of her head. While the first kiss was passionate, this took it up a notch. All Max could say was “Wow.”  
  
Max’s heart raced. Her palms were sweaty and she was shaking from her nerves for Chloe. She hated to spy on what she figured was Chloe’s first kiss with Rachel but, at the same time, she felt so happy for Chloe. She could tell by the look on Chloe’s face that Chloe had fallen in love with Rachel. Not just love but a truly passionate love that only souls destined to be together can experience.  
  
She thought back to her own kisses with Chloe and the connection they shared. As intimate and passionate as they were, it did not compare. Max loved Chloe and she knew that Chloe loved her and Chloe was right, their love was different. What Max witnessed between Chloe and Rachel was indescribable. Max believed that if love had ever manifested itself in this world, it was in the connection between Rachel and Chloe. Even in this memory, Max could feel the connection between them.  
  
Max thought back to a movie she saw once and the quote she remembered:  
  
_"Life is not measured by how many breaths we take, but by the moments that take our breath away."_  
  
Chloe looked truly alive and so, so happy with Rachel. She could tell that this passion, this love, this connection with Rachel had taken Chloe’s breath away and that Chloe’s destiny was Rachel.  
  
As she watched Chloe and Rachel join hands and run down the street, Max was so lost in thought she could not sense the woman come up behind her. The woman was beautiful but beyond the beauty was the face of someone who had experienced true pain and loss. She was petite and wore a pale yellow dress.  
  
“Max,” she said. “Please save her. Please save my Rachel”.  
  
Max turned with a fright. “How can I hear her? How is she talking to me?” Max thought.  
  
“Who - who are you? Max uttered in nothing more than a whisper.  
  
“My name is Sera and I’m Rachel’s birth mother. Please do what you can to save Rachel. She deserves to be happy and deserves so much more than to die in the way she did and be buried in a junkyard.”  
Max immediately recognized the name from her conversation with Chloe. Max had no idea what to say or do so she stood there and let Sera continue.  
  
“Max, I know you must be shocked and confused that this is happening but I need to help Rachel,” Sera continued. “If you can save Rachel, please tell her something for me. I know she wonders where I am and what happened to me. Please tell her that I have passed on from this life. After reconnecting with her several years ago, I started to go down a dark path again. I began to use heavily. And when my current drug was not enough, I got more. And more. By the end, I was wasted 24/7. My life unraveled. I cannot even begin to tell you the things I have done, the choices I made. But they are my choices. I do regret them but I take responsibility for them. But they took me away from Rachel and I hope by talking to you, I can save her. Save her for me and save her for Chloe. The day I died, in the moments before I took my final breath, I had this moment of clarity. Things made sense again and my only wish was to see Rachel one more time. I wanted nothing more than to see my little girl. After I died, it was then I realized her future fate. I promised myself that I would do whatever I could to save her. That is why I am here now. How I am here? I don’t know…. But somehow I have been granted this chance to help you save her….save her for me Max. Please.”  
  
Max was speechless. She wanted to question everything and understand what was going on. On the inside she was freaking out, not sure what to think or to believe anymore. But all she could do was answer; “I will.”  
  
“Thank you” Sera replied. “There is one more thing Max. I really don’t know what it means but I must tell you that will only have one chance to make this right. One chance, nothing more. But more than that, you will be stuck in that timeline, that future. If you live or die, or…,” she hesitated, “or Rachel lives or dies... you will have to live with the consequences of your actions. There will be no getting back to your present. To save Chloe and to save Rachel, it is a sacrifice you will have to make.”  
  
Max was shocked by the words. “Is Sera saying that my power is limited or is fading? Does she know about my power?” But before she could ask Sera for answers, she saw Sera remove a beautiful blue bracelet from her wrist.  
  
“This is Rachel’s bracelet” Sera said. “It means a lot to her and when we last met she gave it to me. For a brief time, I was in Rachel’s life. I tried to make up for all the time I missed. But as the days turned into weeks and weeks into months, I realized something. As hard as it is for me to say, James, Rachel’s father, was right. He said I needed to stay away from Rachel. I will never forgive him for what he did and tried to do but it doesn’t matter now… he was right in the end.”  
  
“So when Rachel and I last met and I had already decided to leave Arcadia Bay for good, I asked Rachel for her bracelet. I wanted something to remember her by. When I died, I was wearing it….”  
  
Sera continued, “Here Max. Take this bracelet.” She handed Max the bracelet and Max, with trembling hands, slipped it into her bag.  
  
“For you to save Rachel, you will need all the help and power you can get it. That bracelet has seen a lifetime of love and loss, death and life, truth and lies, but most of all it has seen a mother’s love for her daughter. I love Rachel, and I want her to be happy. Maybe this will allow you to help her one last time. Make it count Max. Make it…..”  
  
Max wanted to tell Sera thank you and talk to her more but she watched as Sera faded into the dark of the evening.  
  
Max felt all alone and had so many questions. She had no idea how to save Rachel nor what Sera meant about her power fading. Regardless though Max knew she had to try.  
  
“I promise Sera” Max said. “I will save Rachel”.  
  
Like a flash of the light, the memories and moments from the last few days came to Max. She saw herself sitting in Blackwell learning to rewind time, Chloe getting shot in the bathroom and saving her, skinning-dipping with Chloe in the pool, finding  
  
Rachel’s body and the storm. It was almost as if Max was watching her life unfold before her eyes. She had been through hell these last few days. And as she watched these scenes, Chloe’s words came back to her:  
  
_“But Rachel and I had this connection. Our relationship just happened... Those years we spent together before she disappeared were wonderful. Not because you weren’t there or Rachel took your place, but because, for the first time in a long time, I was happy...”_  
  
**_It was in this moment that everything changed._** Max thought about her current present life with Chloe, Sera’s words to her about saving Rachel and the powerful connection that Rachel and Chloe had. Until now, Max wanted to fight for her future with Chloe.  
  
She did not want to give up on her and Chloe. She wanted to be with Chloe and experience their life together. But in this moment, Max realized it was not meant to be.  
  
Max had fought for and saved Chloe so many times. But no matter how many times she saved Chloe, things never worked out. Now Max understood that she was not given this power and this ability to save Chloe. For so long she misunderstood that. Since  
  
Chloe was so important to her and she would do anything to save Chloe, it caused her to miss out on the one truth that mattered more than any:  
  
She was meant to save Rachel Amber.  
  
“Maybe the reason time and fate are so f-ed up is that Chloe is meant to be with Rachel,” Max thought. “Sera was right. I need to save Rachel for Chloe. And by saving Rachel, I will save Chloe. I can give Rachel and Chloe their own time, their own future...together. And by doing so, maybe they will have a chance at being happy. And if that means I am not with them, that is a sacrifice I am willing to make... For Chloe and for Rachel and their chance at a future.”  
  
Max thought back to a book she had once read and one of her favorite quotes. She did not understand it at the time but now, on this warm late spring evening, its meaning came crystal clear:  
  
    _“I finally understood what true love meant...love meant that you care for another person's happiness more than your own, no matter how painful the choices you face might be.”_  
  
Max knew that to save Rachel, and to ultimately save Chloe she would have to make a sacrifice. She realized that this was what fate and destiny were trying to tell her all along. She was willing to die for Chloe if she had too. But she knew, no matter what happened, she and Chloe could never be together. If she lived through this, her future was not with Chloe Price.  
  
Max knew what she had to do. She was going back in time, one last time, to save Rachel Amber. As Max came to this realization, this one truth that she had denied for so long, the vision before her faded. But finally for the first time in a long time, Max understood. For the first time in days, she knew what she needed to do. She knew what was expected of her and why she had suffered so much these last few days. She had the answers she sought and like Sisyphus at the bottom of the mountain, she felt like she had triumphed over her toil, her burden. In this moment she was now greater than her task and she felt in control.

 

* * *

  **Chapter 9 - The Plan**

**I will remember you, will you remember me?**  
**Don't let your life pass you by,**  
**Weep not for the memories**  
**Remember the good times that we had?**  
                                                       - _I Will Remember You_ , Sarah McLachlan

Max awoke and she was back in the El Capitan hotel she shared with Chloe. She looked around and thought about the last couple of days with Chloe. Things were not at all like she had hoped and dreamed when they left Acadia Bay together. She thought leaving Arcadia Bay would leave everything in the past. But the past came with them. She knew she had to do whatever she could to make things right.  
  
Max got out of bed and walked softly into the bathroom. Chloe was still asleep on the couch. Given the events of the last day, Max knew Chloe was hurting. Max hated to see Chloe like this and this feeling made her even more resolved to go back and save Rachel.  
  
Max thought back to their fight and cringed. They both said things they regretted. They both let their anger get the best of them. Max knew Chloe did not mean what she said just like Max did not mean the things she said.  
  
Max got her clothes out of the bathroom and got dressed. Max walked over to Chloe and sat on the edge of the bed. Chloe stirred just a little bit and Max hoped she did not wake. This would be much easier to do if she didn’t have to face her and talk to her.  
  
Not knowing if she would or when she would see Chloe again, Max sat there for what felt like an eternity, just looking at her, wishing there was some other way. Knowing that this Chloe, in this present timeline, would cease to exist and a new Chloe, in a much different timeline, would have a chance at a much happier life, a life that destiny and fate chose, did not help the pain Max was going through. She knew that this Chloe would wonder where she was and would miss her while Max fixed this timeline and  
Max did not want to cause Chloe any pain.  
  
“Chloe,” Max thought, “I know you can’t hear me but I wanted to say that I love you. I do this because I love you, more truly and deeply than I have ever loved anyone. You deserve to be happy. You deserve to be happy with Rachel. I’m going to do what I have to make sure you have a chance… that you and Rachel have a chance. If I am successful, I hope your life with Rachel is happy and true and honest. I hope she makes you happy. Even if it means I live my life without you, it is a sacrifice I am willing to make. I will give anything to make you happy.”  
  
“I don’t know if or when I will see you again. I am not sure if I’ll ever hold you, kiss you or look into your eyes again but as long as you are safe and happy, I will be too. I love you Chloe Elizabeth Price and I always, always will.”  
  
Unsure what to do first, Max remembered the bracelet Sera gave her. Rachel’s bracelet. She opened her bag and removed the bracelet. She looked it over. It was gorgeous but in a plain way. Max slipped it on her wrist. The sensation was immediate. Max could feel the bracelet and it felt like something, some energy radiated from it. She could fill it tingle - all the way up her arm. The sensation, Max thought felt, like the polarity of a magnet. “Maybe Rachel’s bracelet does has some power and can help me,” Max reasoned.  
  
She stood up and she felt the vibration in the bracelet shift. As she moved her wrist around the room testing the feeling in front of her, she could sense the vibrations of the bracelet changing intensity. When it felt most intense, Max stopped and followed the sensation.  
  
Max could not believe it when she realized the bracelet “led” her to the dresser where she found Chloe’s necklace. The necklace had three bullets on it, an ironic symbolism of Chloe’s possible pasts. Max put the necklace around her neck and tucked it gently under her shirt. She hated to take it but she thought she might need it. She opened the top drawer of the dresser and removed a knife she knew Chloe kept in there. It was just a small black knife but it would serve her needs. She slipped it into her bag.  
  
Immediately the bracelet changed again. She stepped to the right and the intensity picked up. With each step it got stronger until she was in front of the closet. She opened the door to the closet and turned on the light. She reached to the top shelf and found a small shoebox of mementos that Chloe kept. For the longest time Chloe kept the box in her truck, under the driver’s seat. Chloe had snuck the box into their room after they booked the hotel for a couple nights. Chloe was unaware that Max knew about the box and what it contained but some of the pictures might possibly help her. Max went through the pictures and found the ones she was looking for. Some were of her and Chloe together as kids and just before Max’s parents stole her away to Seattle. But one picture...this one picture she felt she needed more than any other.  
  
Max recoiled at the picture. She hated it and often wondered why Chloe kept it. It was a picture of Rachel Amber, her wrists bound by tape, obviously tied up in the dark room probably just before she died. Max felt her desire to vomit grow from her stomach upwards to her mouth. The thought of Nathan, Jefferson and the dark room made her physically ill. Curious why Chloe kept this picture, Max had once asked her about it.  
  
“In that picture I can see that Rachel was f-ing furious” Chloe answered. “This picture makes me hope and pray that Rachel did everything she could to try and escape and I hope she made their lives a living hell. Rachel was a fighter and when you pissed her off, you would suffer. And since this is one of the last pictures of her, I hope she fought Nathan. I hope she f-ing punched and kicked and bit and screamed. And knowing she fought and tried, provides me the smallest bit of comfort. It may seem strange Max but it does.”  
  
Max took the picture and held it up so she could get a better focus on it. With her plan in place, Max stared at the picture.  
  
She thought hard about Chloe and Rachel; about her love for Chloe; and about the future she wanted for them. She wanted nothing more than to give Chloe the one chance to be happy. She was willing to make any sacrifice to make it happen... that was how much she loved Chloe. She focused on that - her love for Chloe, the pain for losing her and the joy of knowing she was going to try and give Chloe the one thing she wanted more than anything - a future. A future where she will be happy and in love and happy being loved.  
  
“ _Love_ ” Max thought. “There is no greater power in the universe”.  
  
The picture began to shake and her surroundings began to fade. She looked over at Chloe, still sleeping.  
  
“Goodbye Chloe. I love you...” Max said aloud as the world around her got hazy and dark.

* * *

  **Chapter 10 - The Return**

**But I won't cry for yesterday**  
**There's an ordinary world**  
**Somehow I have to find**  
**And as I try to make my way**  
**To the ordinary world**  
**I will learn to survive**  
                                                       - _Ordinary World_ , Duran Duran

  
Almost immediately Max knew where she was. This dark room had a feeling of evil and fear that permeated the air and Max felt it as soon as she appeared in the room. Thankfully, Max realized, she was around the corner near the large metal door that led into the bunker. She could hear people on the other side of the wall and curtain.  
  
Slowly and stealthily she crept to the edge of the wall and peered around the corner. Sitting on the little couch in the middle of the room, she could see Nathan working on some of the camera equipment. His back was to her and he was obviously focused on fixing it. Looking further to the left and into the far corner of the room, she saw Rachel Amber sitting there. Her wrists and ankles had been bound and she looked like she was coming off of a drug high. She looked angry.  
  
“She is beyond pissed” Max thought.  
  
Max turned around and looked at the heavy bunker door. It was closed but unlocked. “Just as I figured it would be,” Max reasoned, “I knew Nathan would think he was safe here and would not take too many precautions.” Max slowly opened the door. She took out her cell phone, turned the volume all the way up and set the timer for 3 minutes. She gently laid the phone on the other side of the door and started the timer. She eased the door closed behind her but left it cracked enough to be sure Nathan would clearly hear the phone.  
  
Max turned and walked back to the wall and peered around the curtain.  
  
“Good” she thought as Nathan had not moved and was still busy working on the camera. He had some small tools out and was now kneeling down at the table, his back still to Max. Max took advantage of this opportunity and quietly snuck behind the desk to hide.  
  
Max was nervous. Her heart pounded in her chest and her hands were sweaty. Her heart was beating so fast and loud, she was sure Nathan would hear it. She knew if she failed, Nathan would kill her and Rachel. She could not fail. She would not fail.  
  
Max waited and waited. “This is the longest three minutes of my life” she thought to herself.  
  
About that time, she heard her alarm go off. She peeked over and could see Rachel who looked confused. Nathan had jumped up, camera pieces flying.  
  
“Good” Max thought. “Nathan is so f-ing predictable.”  
  
“What the f- is that?” Nathan screamed. “Who the f- is there?”  
  
He immediately sprinted from the room and Max could hear the metal door open further.  
  
“Now’s my chance,” Max thought. She grabbed her small knife and ran over to Rachel.  
  
Rachel was shocked and amazed. Max could tell that she wondered where Max came from and what was going on.

Max slowly lifted Rachel’s hands and whispered, “Open your hands.” Rachel bent her wrists to try to open her hands as much as she could.  
  
Max reached around her neck to remove Chloe’s necklace. She dangled it so Rachel could see it. Max could tell Rachel immediately recognized it. She carefully dropped it in Rachel’s hands and helped Rachel curl her fingers around it to hold it. Max could tell Rachel understood the gesture.

Rachel’s eyes immediately shifted their gaze to her bracelet. Max saw that Rachel recognized it of course. “Long story,” Max whispered.

“Rachel, don’t worry, I am here to help you” Max whispered. “I am going to cut you loose but do not move. Nathan will come back in and I will distract him. When I have his attention, he won’t expect you to be free. Do what you have to do. Do you understand?”  
  
Rachel cautiously nodded as Max slit the tape binding her hands and feet. Rachel did not move but worked her hands and ankles free to make sure the tape was separated.  
  
Max ran back over to her hiding place.  
  
A few moments later Nathan walked back in holding Max’s phone. Max could tell he was scrolling through pictures and numbers.  
  
Nathan turned to Rachel. “What the hell did you do? Whose phone is this?”  
  
He walked menacingly towards Rachel and leaned down to get into her face.  
  
“How the hell should I know? You have had me locked up in this hole for days now” Rachel angrily spat at Nathan. “F- you!”  
  
“It’s now or never” Max thought.  
  
Mustering every ounce of strength and bravery she could find, she stood up from behind the desk.  
  
“Hey! Prescott!” Max said loudly.  
  
Nathan turned to look at her, his mouth open in a state of shock. He clearly was not expecting anyone to be there.

“WHO ARE YOU? Who the f- are you? How the f- did you get in my dark room?” Nathan screamed. Max could see the anger building up in him.

“It doesn't matter who I am. I am here to stop you and free her” Max responded with a nod towards Rachel. She continued, “But I know who you are, Nathan Prescott. You are a rich asshole who is the son of a bigger asshole. You are spoiled rich brat who thinks because you are rich that you get your way. What’s the matter Nathan? Daddy’s money running out. Mr. Jefferson no longer supporting your little side project. Your therapist turn you away. Oh woe is me, poor little Nathan. And now you have been caught and your life is about to go straight to hell. You will look damn good in some prison stripes. I hear they take good pictures in prison - especially when you drop the soap in the shower. Of course that might add to your therapy needs, psycho. And Daddy’s money can’t save your sorry ass in prison.”  
  
Nathan was seething in anger but fixated totally on her. “Just like I hoped for,” Max thought. Max wanted to glance at Rachel and make sure she was working herself free but she did not dare take her eyes off Nathan.  
  
Nathan shouted, “Do not tell me who I am. Do not diagnose me, bitch. You know nothing who-the-hell-ever-you-are. And unless you got a gun or something in that stupid hipster bag of yours, it's just you and me.”  
  
What Nathan did not sense was Rachel Amber rising behind him, tripod in hand. She looked towards Max, and for the first time in days, smiled. Max flinched with anticipation of what was about to happen.  
  
“Hey Nathan,” Rachel whispered. “Really, I mean it….f- you asshole”.  
  
Nathan twisted around and realizing Rachel was standing, he froze. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw a dark, metal object coming towards his head but there was nothing he could do. He raised his arms in a reflexive manner to try and block the incoming blow but it was too late.  
  
Max could see the corner of the metal tripod had caught him on his left temple. She heard the metal edge of the frame dig into his skull. She could hear the tearing of meat and cracking of bone and watched as blood began to run down the side of his face.  
  
He collapsed to the ground like a ragdoll. The last thing he saw before everything went to black was Rachel Amber and the unknown girl standing over him. He heard the brunette girl say, “And that’s for Chloe Price.”  
\---*---  
After binding his feet and hands, Max went over to the desk, grabbed some documents and files and put them in her bag. She also grabbed the keys to Nathan’s car. Rachel and Max left the dark room, closed the door and went upstairs into the barn. Max helped Rachel to a bale of hay so she could rest. Before she knew it, Rachel began to cry.  
  
“Tears of joy, tears of relief, tears of freedom,” Max thought.  
  
“Who are you?” Rachel asked through her tears. “How did you know I was here? How and why did you save me? How do you know Chloe? How did you get her necklace? Is she okay? How did you get my bracelet?”  
  
“Slow down Rachel. Everything is okay. Chloe is okay. I am Max Caulfield,” Max replied.  
  
Max could see the thought register with Rachel but she looked so confused.  
  
“Chloe’s Max?” Rachel gasped. “But how….why….I don't understand.”  
  
“Rachel, it will be hard to explain and harder for you to understand,” Max began. “Please bear with me while I explain this and I hope you believe me. Sometimes I can’t believe it myself. What I have to tell you is insane.”

Max told Rachel about the events of her other timeline. She told her about Arcadia Bay and the storm; her and Chloe leaving. She told Rachel about her future with Chloe and how things weighed on them too much to truly be happy. She explained her power and her ability to rewind time and jump into different timelines. She told Rachel about her visions and going back in time to see her and Chloe together….she mentioned the train, the park, the play and the street.

Rachel simply sat there and nodded. Max could tell Rachel doubted what she said but was intrigued and at least did not think Max was crazy….well, too crazy.  
  
“And Rachel, this next part will be very hard for you to hear,” Max said.  
  
“When I went back to see the play, someone spoke to me. This had never happened before and it scared the shit out of me. She said her name was Sera and she was your mother.”  
  
“She gave me this bracelet to give to you. She said you would recognize it and know it was from her.” Max slipped off the bracelet and gave it to Rachel.  
  
Rachel froze. Max could tell Rachel was speechless so she continued, “She came up to me the night you kissed Chloe while standing in the street said her name and told me to come save you. It was her idea and she was the one that made me realize that to save Chloe, I had to save you. However she also told me something else...something I have to tell you but I don't know how.”

“She is dead Rachel. She said after she reconnected with you at the lighthouse that day, she vowed to get clean. She tried to stop using, tried to get a better life. But it didn’t last.”  
  
Max looked over at Rachel and tears were streaming down her face. Max wanted to stop but knew Rachel needed to hear what she had to say.

Max, wiping away her own tears, explained, “She knew you and Chloe are meant to be. You both are connected through a love and a fiery passion that comes along rarely in a lifetime. As you told Chloe that night in the park, ‘Whatever's going on between us, it's... intense and new and awesome,’ shows that you know it too.”  
  
Rachel looked surprised and shocked that Max quoted her own words back to her. Max could see that Rachel was beginning to accept what she was hearing.  
  
“Rachel - you have to go back to Chloe. She needs you and you need her. There is no other way. You are meant to be together. So please Rachel, don’t worry about leaving Arcadia Bay. Don’t worry about what you want. Please, please help me save Chloe.”  
  
Rachel looked up at Max and through her tears, “Max, I know Chloe loves you and you will always be that special someone in her life. She does not deserve someone like me. I lied to her and cheated on her. I treated her like shit. She deserves someone like you. Someone who loves her more than I can. Heck, she doesn’t stop talking about you!”  
  
Max smiled at Rachel and said, “I love her too Rachel….more than words can say but we can never be. The universe or fate or destiny will not allow Chloe and me to be together. We had some great years together. But when I left that day, soon after Chloe’s Dad died, somehow I knew it would never be the same. I love her and will always love her but we cannot be. You and she are meant to be together; I know that now and Sera knew that.”

“Go to her Rachel. Find that love, that passion that connects your souls. It’s always been there and it’s still there. But you have to find it again. Hug her, hold her and never let her go. And above all else don’t stop loving her.”

Rachel protested. “What about you?”  
  
Max smiled; a small smile that tried to hide the sadness behind it. “Don’t worry about me,” Max began. “To ensure Chloe’s safe and happy, I know I have to leave. I cannot be part of Chloe’s life. I cannot try and find her. I cannot keep causing her pain and loss. If I am around, she will never live her life she is meant too. So I am going to leave.”  
  
She patted her tote bag, “I have my camera so I am going to travel the world and take pictures and live through my photography. This what I have always wanted to do. Even back when Chloe and I were younger, before I left Seattle. I wanted to travel and take pictures”. Max knew she was not doing a good job hiding her pain. Rachel could see right through her.  
  
Max reached inside her bag. “Rachel” she continued, “We do not have much time. You need to take these documents to the police. They have all the incriminating evidence you need. See that Nathan and Jefferson are put away for a long time.”  
  
Rachel took the letters and pictures from Max. “I will” Rachel responded.  
  
“And lastly, I have one more thing to ask of you” Max said as her hand slipped into her pocket. “Please give this note to Chloe. Not right now but when you believe the time is right. It’s for her. You can read it with her if you want. It’s nothing secret. Can you do me this last favor?”  
  
“Of course” Rachel answered. “Oh Max, I just met you but I feel like I have known you forever. I would give anything for you to be part of my life and Chloe’s. I know you think you can’t but please reconsider.”  
  
Max simply looked down and shook her head.  
  
Rachel continued, “No matter what though, thank you. I can’t say it enough and words fail me but thank you. Thank you for saving me and thank you for saving Chloe. Thank you, Max.”  
  
“Here take this,” Rachel handed Max her bracelet. “Keep it. Use it to remember me and Chloe and to remember what you gave us. When you look at it, think about the chance you gave us.”  
  
Max smiled at Rachel and willingly accepted the bracelet.  
  
Rachel and Max got up and walked out of the barn. Rachel turned to Max and without a word, hugged her. Max handed her Nathan’s keys, and Rachel got in the car. She dropped the files and documents in the passenger seat, started the car and drove off.  
She looked back at Max, and Max waved.  
  
Finally, after all these months and years, Max was at peace. She felt like she did everything she could to save Chloe. It was up to Chloe and Rachel now. It was up to fate and destiny. The same fate and destiny that made sure her and Chloe could never be.  
As Max started down the dirt driveway, she looked off into the woods. She caught a glimpse of a deer, a small, tan doe, so beautiful and happy. Flying around it was a gorgeous blue butterfly, the color of the brightest blue Max had ever seen. The two creatures seemed to be enjoying each other’s company and their time together - almost playing together Max thought.  
  
Max reached into her bag to grab her camera. She wanted to capture this scene, this moment so she could remember everything that she, Chloe and Rachel went through. As she was reaching in her bag, it slipped off of her shoulder and startled her. In response, she exclaimed “Ooof.” The noise startled the young doe and in bounded off. Frustrated, Max immediately tried to rewind time. Instinctively, she held out her hand and stopped herself. It no longer mattered she thought. She had saved Rachel and she hoped that she gave Chloe the future she so deserved. Power or no power, Max had the open road before her and looked forward to discovering what fate and destiny held for her. Her future was unwritten and she liked knowing that it was now up to her. Not fate or destiny or some storm. It was _her_ future. And it was their future, Rachel’s and Chloe’s. She thought of them and smiled and she hoped that they may have a lifetime of joy and happiness… together.

* * *

** Chapter 11 - The Letter**

Always you will be part of me  
And I will forever feel your strength  
When I need it most  
You're gone now, gone but not forgotten  
I can't say this to your face  
But I know you hear  
                                            _-I’ll See You Again_ , Westlife

 My Dearest Chloe,

This is the hardest thing I ever had to write. The only thing that comes close was when I recorded that message for you the day of your Dad’s funeral and I soon left you. I remember it like it was yesterday. Oh Chloe….I am so sorry I left you. I am so, so sorry that I didn’t write or call or text. I was a horrible friend and I hope you can forgive me.

Chloe - this story, what you are about to read will not make any sense. But trust me, this is true. I am not high or crazy, this is the truth. Please trust me. Rachel can confirm part of this; the rest you have to take on faith.

Chloe, what if I told you I can reverse time? That I can jump from timelines to timelines. The life you are leading right now is one of many different timelines and possibilities. Yes, chaos theory, the “butterfly effect” is true - I have lived it these last few months. Trust me, I do not understand it any more than you do. But this is how I was able to save Rachel from one possible, horrible fate.

In one of these timelines, I came back to Arcadia Bay to go to school at Blackwell. You had changed and Rachel had disappeared, just as she did now. But, in this timeline, she died, nobody saved her and I destroyed Arcadia Bay. Yes, Chloe - I did it. By messing with time, I created a super-storm that destroyed the town. In other versions of this timeline, I watched you die Chloe. Not once but multiple times. However, we lived and left Arcadia Bay just like you and Rachel wanted all along.

However, I began to have dreams or visions. I was able to see your memories… memories of you and Rachel together. I was there so many times! I saw Rachel set fire to that tree at the Overlook and wail like some supernatural songbird. I was there on the train when you said “Nice Rachel we’re having”... you never were a good flirt! I was there at the play when you were dressed like a...whatever you were….and Rachel looked amazing! Both of you planned to run away together. And Chloe, I was also there when you and Rachel kissed under an ash-filled sky standing in the street.

When I got to see these moments I realized there had to be a reason that I was given this power and that reason was to ultimately save you Chloe. And to save you I had to save Rachel. So I made one last jump back to when Nathan Prescott was holding Rachel in a bunker on his property. Don’t worry...Rachel has enough evidence to put his and Jefferson’s sorry asses away for a long time. They will never hurt anyone again.

I told Rachel things so that she understands the connection the two of you have. She knows you are her future. And this is what I realized when I saw you and Rachel together. Chloe, we had some great years together. We grew up together and were the best of friends. And we still are. Even though we are apart, I still think of you as my best friend and my soul-mate. I love you so much. But I realized something. You and Rachel are meant to be. Fate and destiny conspired to bring you together and rip you apart but to make sure you has a chance at true happiness and a possible future together, I was meant to make it happen…my sacrifice would insure the two of you have a chance. The smallest of chances but a chance. And there is nothing I want more than for you and for Rachel to be together and to be happy. I am so glad Rachel came back to you. I am so happy you are together. She is your destiny. She is the love of your life and you, hers. I am your past, and I am okay with that.

But with any sacrifice comes sadness. I have lost you enough times to fill a countless number of timelines. To fill a lifetime. I do not want to experience it again. I am afraid if I stay with you or I am part of your life, I will continue to cause you pain or loss. I feel like we could never truly escape Arcadia Bay and the past would always catch up to us; that fate and destiny would always interfere with our lives. So the best thing for me to do is to leave. I am leaving Arcadia Bay. I will still live and love and experience this life but it will be without you. It is for the best and I hate it so much.

I will spend my life living through my photography. It is how I can live and express myself. I hope to travel the world and see all that it has to offer.

Please do not look for me. Please do not try to find me. Spend your life with Rachel. Love her Chloe - with all of your being and soul. Stay with her, protect her and do not leave her. When times get tough, find a way. When times are good, love each other. Believe in each other and be there for each other. By doing so, you will honor this sacrifice I have made. It is enough for me to know you both are together and happy. Knowing you are safe and you and Rachel are together is all I need and will allow me to live out the rest of my days happily. I will forever miss you but that’s the price I am willing to pay to make sure you are safe and happy with Rachel. It's the price I am willing to pay to ensure you have a future.

As I began to study photography, I read a book. A very powerful book that holds a special place in my heart. Like many artists, I also believe in the artistry of romance and this book captured it so well. Its title is not important but it's about a photographer that travels to a town in Iowa to take pictures. While there he meets a married woman. Her marriage is a good one but something is missing from her life. He awakens a sense of wonder and passion in her. They began an affair but they both know their love can never be. She feels duty-bound to her husband and family. However, they have four days together. He spends four days with her and then leaves. They never see each other again.

I hope you can see the existentialist parallel with our own lives. In the book, when he leaves her, he writes to her:

_“Instead, I am grateful for having at least found you. We could have flashed by one another like two pieces of cosmic dust._ _God or the universe or whatever one chooses to label the great systems of balance and order does not recognize Earth-time. To the universe, four days (our years together) is no different than four billion light years. I try to keep that in mind._  
_But, I am, after all, a man (a woman). And all the philosophic rationalizations I can conjure up do not keep me from wanting you, every day, every moment, the merciless wail of time, of time I can never spend with you, deep within my head._  
_I love you (Chloe Price), profoundly and completely. And I always will._  
  
No matter what, we always will be, Max and Chloe. We're always together, even when we're not.  
  
Your partner in time,  
Max

* * *

  **Chapter 12 - The Future**

**And all the roads we have to walk are winding**  
**And all the lights that lead us there are blinding**  
**There are many things that I**  
**Would like to say to you but I don't know how**  
**Because maybe, you're gonna be the one that saves me**  
**And after all, you're my wonderwall**  
                                                                          - _Wonderwall_ , Oasis

**Graduation, 2 months later**

The sun shone brightly and illuminated Blackwell Academy in a beautiful early summer glow. The events of the past few months were thankfully coming to an end. After Rachel escaped, things happened fast. It helps when you father is the District Attorney.

Mark Jefferson was arrested almost immediately. Rachel had enough incriminating evidence to make the case a slam dunk. Jefferson’s trial lasted just a few shorts weeks. Given the charges and the history of what he did, he was sentenced to 150 years in prison. He has a small chance of parole after 25 years served on good behavior but the District Attorney all but guarantees Jefferson will serve a hell of a lot more than 25 years.

Nathan Prescott pled guilty to lesser charges. However, it was partly his testimony that put Jefferson away. As part of his plea deal, Nathan will stay out of prison but will spend a number of years in a mental health hospital. He will not be eligible for release for 25 years as well. In addition, the Court ruled that the Prescott Foundation will divest any and all interest in Blackwell Academy. The Prescott Dorm will now be known as Andrew North Residential Commons, named after Blackwell’s first professional football player in the NFL.

As the trials ended and things attempted to return to normalcy, the new principal of Blackwell Academy, Karina Bishop, had a graduation to plan. Principal Wells was removed by the Blackwell Board of Directors for failure to “vet” Mark Jefferson and to allow things like the Vortex parties to occur under his supervision. Dr. Bishop was brought in by the Board to “clean things up” and secure new donors. But first she had a graduation to put on. Hopefully it would go off without a hitch and be a nice, quiet ceremony.  
\---*---  
Rachel Amber stood on the stage behind the speaker’s podium in her cap and gown. She looked out over the crowd and knew she was lucky to be alive. She did not know what had happened, much less could she attempt to explain it. Somehow Max knew and Max saved her. Chloe’s Max….

Sitting in the front row, she could see Chloe. Chloe’s blue hair looked amazing in the sunlight. Chloe saw her staring and winked at her and blew her a kiss. Next to Chloe on one side sat her parents and on the other sat Chloe’s Mom, Joyce, and step-Dad, David. And further back, by herself, Rachel could make out the slim profile of a woman who looked a lot like Sera, her birth mother. For a moment Rachel wondered if it could be her, but immediately put that thought out of her mind. Max had told her that Sera had died and Rachel hoped that, wherever she is, she was watching.

“Now for my speech” Rachel thought. “Being valedictorian is pretty awesome but this was one hella difficult speech to write. And everyone is looking at me wondering what I am going to say”.

Rachel cleared her throat.

“Good afternoon. On behalf of the graduating class of 2013, I want to welcome all of you to Blackwell Academy. Decades ago, this wonderful school was founded to be a beacon of education for the families that live on the coast of Oregon. In its time, it has seen the good and the bad, its ups and downs. But no matter what, Blackwell has stood the test of time. I want to thank the administration of our wonderful school for all they have done for us these past four or five years. No matter what we faced, it was the strength of the faculty, staff and administrators that...um, that…” Rachel looked at Chloe. Chloe had that grin, that mischievous grin like she knew already that Rachel could not give this speech.

Rachel paused. She looked out at the audience. “You know what, f- this speech.”

The crowd gasped and murmurs broke through those in attendance. The administrators behind Rachel sat cross-armed in their chairs, not sure what to expect. Principal Bishop looked at Rachel’s Dad and shot him an accusatory look. James’ expression told her to remain seated and let his daughter finish.

Some of the students cheered. Rachel’s Mom looked uncomfortable in her seat. Chloe nodded her head and gave Rachel a look that said “Do it - you know you have too”.

“I had this speech prepared.” She lifted her notes half-heartedly and laid them back down. “It was all about Blackwell, and our time here. It talked about filling our days and remembering our classes and athletics and how Blackwell will always be part of us. But you know, it was fake. It was all B.S. It was not my speech, it was the speech they wanted me to write. They wanted things to be “normal.” Making air quotes with her fingers, she gestured to the row of administrators behind her. They squirmed in their seats.

Rachel continued, “No, that’s not my speech. And no, things are not normal. I want to talk to you about something else. I want to talk to you about love. Yes, grades and success; getting into a good college; finding a good job; making money may seem important and to some people they are important. But it does not define you. It is not who you are.

“Love defines us. Love makes us who we are. And sharing that love is important. Finding that special someone. Spending your life with them. As Helen Keller said, _“The best and most beautiful things in this world cannot be seen or even heard, but must be felt with the heart.”_

She looked at Chloe.

“All of you know what happened to me. But that’s in the past. But what you do not know is how I was saved. I was rescued. Someone came to me and found me. That person gave up everything to save me. Who they are and why they did it is not important….that’s for me to know. Just know she saved me. She gave me my life to live and for that I am eternally grateful.”

“She gave me something else though.” She looked at Chloe sitting in the audience and could see Chloe smiling from ear to ear. Joyce reached over and put her arm around Chloe. David put his hand on Chloe’s knee to offer support. He looked out of his element as affection was something he was just now learning to give.

“By saving me, she made me realize that I am lucky. Not just lucky to be alive, but lucky because I found the love of my life. Her sacrifice led me back to my one true love.”

“Chloe Elizabeth Price. I love you. I love you with every ounce of my being. I love you today, yesterday and tomorrow. From the moment I met you, I knew what we had was special. I am so glad we skipped class that day after we met. As Shakespeare wrote in _The Tempest:_

    _Hear my soul speak:_  
_The very instant that I saw you, did_  
_My heart fly to your service._

Rachel winked at Chloe as she remembered her and Chloe acting in that very play years before. “I know not what the future holds. But I know who I want to share it with, who I want to be with.” As Shakespeare wrote in _Romeo and Juliet_ :

  _My bounty is as boundless as the sea,_  
_My love as deep; the more I give to thee,_  
_The more I have, for both are infinite_.

“My love for you Chloe is infinite.”

“So class of 2013, I hope you find love. I hope you find that person who makes your day brighter and your life worth living. Remember the greatest of all things is love. Thank you.” The crowd erupted in thunderous applause. People cheered while others wiped away tears. Without hesitation, Chloe sprung from her seat, leaped over the rope and hopped on stage. She embraced Rachel and drew her close. Chloe whispered into Rachel’s ear, “I love you too”.

**Four years later….**

A very nervous Chloe Price sat on the front row of the gigantic auditorium and remembered those years earlier when Rachel gave her speech at Blackwell’s graduation. Today there was no speech. Today, Chloe was just one of the crowd. But she was there to see Rachel achieve her dreams.

Chloe looked around and could see so many people excited to see their students graduate. There were parents, and grandparents, husbands and wives, children and all kinds of other friends and family. Chloe sat there thinking about the past four years.

After graduation, Rachel learned that she was accepted to New York University’s Tisch program for Drama. Rachel had always wanted to go to New York and this was the perfect opportunity. There was no question that she would go with Rachel. After everything that had happened, Chloe was going to cherish every moment with her.

Chloe knew that Rachel’s parents were in the audience. She looked around for them but did not see them. “They will find us” she thought. “Or we’ll see them later”.

As the graduation began, Chloe realized it was going to be impossible to pick Rachel out of the crowd. The lines of graduates seemed to go for miles. Chloe sat up and looked over the crowd and scanned the line of graduates anyway.

“Wait,” Chloe said under her breath but loud enough for the people next to her to hear. “Is that what I think it is?”

In the line of graduates, way at the bottom of the arena, Chloe could make out one cap. It had been decorated with all kinds of glitter paint and swirls. But that’s not what caught her eye. It was the words; for in the middle of the hat it simply read:

_“Thank you Max.”_

Chloe gasped. Even now, even on her big day, Rachel remembered Max and what she did for her… for them all those years before. Chloe’s knees felt weak and she sat down lost in her thoughts and distant memories.  
\---*---  
Later that evening, after the graduation, Chloe and Rachel returned to their small apartment on the outskirts of the city. Chloe knew Rachel hated the commute but this was all they could afford. No matter, they were together.

“You know you look super sexy in that cap and gown, Rachel” Chloe teased. “Actually you do, you look sexy no matter what you wear...or don’t”. Rachel smiled and momentarily modeled the gown for Chloe. “I am so hella proud of you Rach. To see you on that stage, with your diploma, and knowing your play has already been accepted to begin production on Broadway…” she trailed off. “Is this real?” Chloe wondered aloud.

“Yes Chloe. It’s really real. It’s our life and our time together. You have given so much and helped me so much, I cannot say thank you enough.” Rachel smiled and looked at Chloe. “I am going to go upstairs to get ready for dinner with our parents. Be back in a jiff.” She leaned over and gave Chloe a quick kiss on the cheek and then bounded up the stairs.

Chloe took the opportunity to prepare for what she was planning. She grabbed her pre-made basket and went into the backyard. It was a small yard but perfect for her plans. Months of planning had come to this. “Stay calm Chloe” she thought. “No big deal….it's just the rest of your life and it has to be perfect. Rachel deserves it to be perfect.”  
\---*---  
Rachel came down the stairs. “Chloe?” she called. No reply came. “Chloe?” Rachel said a little louder.

“I am out here Rach- Rachel” came Chloe’s reply.

“What is she doing in the backyard?” Rachel wondered. “And her voice seems...nervous. I hope she’s not stressing out too much. Dinner with our parents always tends to freak her out”.

Rachel turned and walked towards their backdoor. Opening it and looking out at their little backyard, she gasped.

Lights, like those little clear Christmas tree lights, were hung up all around the yard. Rose petals led down the stairs across the patio to a small, weathered cast-iron table. The table, an antique they had found at a garage sale and worked together to refinish, set in the middle of the patio and on it, sat two bears. Rachel laughed. These were the Build-a-Bears they made together on one of their first dates in the city after they moved to New York. One bear was an auburn color and had on a bracelet and blue earring in its left ear. It was dressed in a red plaid shirt and jeans. The other bear was blue - a bright blue that looked suspiciously like Chloe’s former hair. It was dressed like a punk rocker, biker chick bear.

Rachel noticed Chloe give a nod to something to her right. She glanced over and sitting on a window, overlooking the yard was a third bear. It was a plain brown bear and rather small. It had a camera and little carry-all bag swung over its shoulder. It was dressed in a plain t-shirt and jeans.

Standing by the table was a very nervous Chloe Price.

“Oh my God” was all Rachel could half mumble.

“Is that a ring? Is that blue bear holding a ring?” Rachel thought.

As if on cue, Chloe reached into the bear’s paw and grabbed the ring, and proceeded to get down on one knee.

“Rachel…” Chloe began, “these last few years have been amazing. I have seen you grow and achieve your dreams. And somehow, for some reason, the universe has chosen me to be along for the ride. But now I am telling the universe, that I want to be along for the ride...forever...if you’ll have me. I love you Rachel Amber. From you saving my ass at Firewalk to skipping school together to our first kiss under a streetlight below an ash-filled sky...I have loved you. I have always loved you. And I want to spend the rest of my life with you.”

Rachel, tears filling her eyes, proceeded down the stairs and dropped down to her knees for she could stand no longer. The power of Chloe’s words filled her with an emotion greater than love.

“Chloe Price….Yes….. of course I will marry you”.  
\---*---  
**Three years later….**

  
A happily married Chloe and Rachel stood outside the theater and admired the marquee. Rachel’s play was preparing for the final night of performance. Every show had sold out and tonight was no different. Many people had seen it for a third or fourth time. Drawing comparisons to great romantic plays of the past like _Wicked_ , _Rent_ , _West Side Story_ and even _The Phantom of the Opera_ , the play had fabulous reviews. All the New York publications swooned over it. And its producer, Rachel Amber-Price. Next year the play would go on tour and stop in all of the major cities like Atlanta, Miami, Chicago and San Francisco. Tony award nominations were coming soon and rumor was the play would be nominated!

Rachel Amber’s name became synonymous with the play. After all, it was _her_ play. She wrote it, produced it and directed it (in addition to starring as the lead) but more shocking than that, and unbeknownst to the fans, she lived it.

The play called _Atonement_ was about a young girl named Mac (Short for MacKenzie). Mac was a time-traveler who could jump through time to bring about change to those she met. Mac’s main goal was to try and find the true love of her life, a pink haired girl named Zoe. Time and again, she failed but finally she found her. Sadly, fate intervened and their love could never be. Mac realized that true love sometimes means sacrifice and not being with the person you love.

“Are you ready for this Rachel?” Chloe asked. “Your final performance as Mac and the culmination of six months of performances. Time to hand it off to those understudies and traveling performers.”

“Oh Chloe,” Rachel exclaimed, “I’m not ready. Playing this character always makes me think of Max, our Max and what she gave up for us. I wonder where she is and what she is doing.”

Rachel turned to face Chloe. Chloe could tell that Rachel was about to say something very serious.

“I know Max said in her letter to you to not find her. To leave her alone. Her sacrifice and her punishment for f-ing with time is to spend a lifetime apart from you. And there could be no worse punishment possible. I can’t imagine it. These years with you have been the greatest years of my life. I love you and I love that I get to call you my friend, my wife, my lover.”

Chloe reached out to caress Rachel’s face. “I love you, too.”

“But, it's time. It's time we find Max. She doesn’t deserve this punishment. She deserves happiness. If writing and producing this play has taught me anything, it’s that true love in any form is meant to be. Always. Nothing can change that – Not you or I and not fate or destiny, but you have to keep trying until your last breath”.

Chloe began to turn away in protest. “Rachel we have been married now for almost three years...you are the love of my life. You know that. Yes, I will always love Max but it’s different...and I can’t look for her.”

Rachel smiled and looked at Chloe. “Chloe, my love - I do know that but without Max we would not be together. She sacrificed so much for us and that is a greater love than any. We have to find her. She is _my_ savior and she is _your_ soulmate. What we have is the perfect kind of romantic love. We fell in love. True, passionate love”.

She paused. “What you and Max have transcends that. It transcends time. It transcends reality. Chloe Elizabeth Price - I have your heart. It belongs to me. Your love and affection are mine. But Max has your soul, your being, your existence. You and Max are connected through time and space in a way I cannot begin to understand. I can never replace that, and I am ok with it. What you have with Max is special and it's love too. But a different kind of love.”

Rachel continued. “Max gave us a chance, she gave us the smallest chance of all possibilities of being together. In a world of infinite possibilities, she made sure our chance would have the best chance to come true. Without her, there is no telling where we would be. What life we would have. Look what she gave us, Chloe. She did it, her sacrifice! She deserves to be happy and nothing in this world would make her happier than having you in her life.”

Chloe fighting the tears welling in her eyes questioned her wife. “She did not want me to find her. She asked me to please not look for her. She said so in her letter. How do you know she wants me in her life?”

“Chloe,” that’s easy - because I have you in mine. I know what she is missing. I know what it's like to love and be loved by Chloe F-ing Price and to deny that to Max is not fair. She needs you Chloe. I know she does. Wherever she is right now, she is hurting, she is suffering. I know it. Somehow I can feel it.”

Chloe began to weep. Her wife is offering to give her the one thing she was missing. She wanted Max back. She wanted Max to be part of their lives. She wanted Max to be happy. And Rachel was giving her the chance to do that - to make it right.

Consequences be damned.

Chloe hugged Rachel and whispered in her ear “Okay. We will. No matter how long it takes, we will find her.”

**Epilogue - The Beloved**

 

**I have died everyday, waiting for you**  
**Darling, don't be afraid, I have loved you for a thousand years**  
**I'll love you for a thousand more**  
**Time stands still**  
**Beauty in all she is**  
**I will be brave**  
**I will not let anything, take away**  
**What's standing in front of me**  
                                                   - _A Thousand Years_ , Christina Perri

  **One year later….**

Rachel Amber turned to her wife and embraced the welcomed affection. “What is it? What’s going on? Are you okay?”

Chloe exclaimed, still short of breath, “I am not just okay! I am hella okay. Rachel, I found her. I found Max”.

“Chloe!” Rachel exclaimed. “That’s incredible. How do you know? Do you know for sure?”

Chloe handed Rachel the paper, “Read this”.

Rachel began to read the story. Chloe, not being able to sit still, started to pace around the room and walk in circles. “What was taking Rachel so long?” she wondered.

Rachel looked up from the paper. “Chloe….could it be true. Could it be her?”

“I don’t know Rach but I need to find out. I have to find out. I know it's not cheap to fly to California but I have to go”. Chloe’s mind was going a million miles an hour.

“Of course you do and we’re going too”. Rachel couldn’t believe the words had come out of her mouth. Her first plane flight and at this age....  
\---*---  
A few hours later the plane tickets were booked and bags were packed. The plane left from LaGuardia that evening and they would be on it. It was a non-stop red-eye but it was the best they could do on such short notice.

“Chloe, it’s time to go,” Rachel said. “Let’s go get her.”

Together they walked upstairs and stopped at a multi-colored door decorated in pastels and adorned with pictures scribbled with crayon. They cracked it open and peered inside. A crib sat against the far wall. In the crib, sleeping soundly was a beautiful little girl. _Paw Patrol_ posters adorned the walls along with _Doc McStuffins_ and _Mickey Mouse Clubhouse_.

Rachel smiled. “Every time I see her she gets more beautiful”.

With the sound of her Mom’s voice, the little girl awoke with a start, stood up in the crib and, practically yelling, exclaimed “Mommy! Mommy!”

Rachel walked over and picked up the little girl.

“So how is our little one?”

“I fine” the little girl uttered.

“Guess what we are going to do today sweetheart?” Chloe said as Rachel passed the little girl to her.

Rachel began to pack the bags for the toddler. “They require so much stuff at this age” she thought.

“We are going to go get on an airplane!” Chloe told her. The little girl squealed with excitement. “Aleplane! Aleplane” she repeated.

“Yes and then you get to go meet your Aunt Max!”

“Aunt... Max?” the little girl repeated in toddler-ese. It was more of a question than a statement. She stopped for a moment and giggled.

“How silleee! That like my name”.

Chloe responded, “Why yes it is! Maxine Sera Price…. Yes it is”.

With that, Chloe looked at Rachel and smiled.  
\---*---  
She left Rachel and Maxine in the hotel. The trip had taken its toll on the little one and she needed sleep. Chloe took a Uber to the gallery, just across town from their hotel. As Chloe walked into the art gallery, she paused. The feeling of deja vu overwhelmed her.

She reached into her left back-pocket and pulled out her wallet. She unfolded it and removed a folded piece of paper. Max’s letter. Chloe had lost count how many times she had read it since Rachel gave it to her for Max all those years ago. Now standing before this gallery with the chance that Max would be here, she wanted to hold the letter close. It was the only thing she had from Max and it meant so much to her.

The gallery was just as she thought it would be. Beautiful plain, white concrete walls that stood at least three stories high. As she went inside, she noticed people were dressed in their fancy clothes standing back, admiring the art on the walls. Listening closely, Chloe could hear their exclamations of amazement, their deep breaths of shock and see their looks of sheer joy.

Looking up at the photographs, Chloe knew in an instant this had to be Max’s work. The photographs depicted just what the article said - moments in time that seemed impossible to capture in a photograph.

“How? Chloe thought. “How could anyone photograph this...? Only Max could.”

Chloe looked around and then stopped. Hey eye caught a large photograph on a far wall. Clearly this was meant to be the center-piece, the main focus of the show. And rightfully so. A crowd had gathered and was simply mesmerized by the image.  
In the photograph, a young blue-haired girl was reaching out to a smaller brunette. No not reaching Chloe realized. As she looked closer, she saw that the two girls had been holding hands but their hands were slowly being pulled apart by some force of destiny, or fate or….time. The photograph had been taken at the exact moment only the tip of their last finger touched….as if they were connected but not connected at the same time.

Behind the two girls, a storm raged - a dark, powerful storm unlike any Chloe had ever seen. The image haunted her. She felt like she had been there, like she had lived it. It was the worst feeling of Deja vu she had ever experienced, even worse than walking into this gallery.

As her gaze shifted, it was then at the front of the crowd she saw a very small, petite young woman. Her back was to her but it didn’t matter. Chloe knew. Chloe felt it…. the connection. A lifetime of love. A lifetime of separation. A lifetime of looking. The sadness and longing radiated off of her and Chloe could feel it. **_For those that sacrifice the most, they will be known by their suffering._**

Chloe pushed her way through the small crowd. She reached out and laid her hand on the woman’s shoulder. “Max?” Chloe asked in a small voice.

Startled, the young woman turned and her eyes fixated on Chloe’s.

“Chloe?” Max said. “How? How are you here? I told you to stay away, to not find me! Why did you find me?”

Chloe smiled at her friend, her soul-mate. It was Max for sure, just a bit older like her. Max still had that wide-eyed, youthful but learn-ed and age-ed look about her; that look that all artists have from a lifetime of experiencing the world through a canvas or sheet music….or in Max’s case, a camera. Chloe looked down and on Max’s wrist she saw Rachel’s bracelet. Somehow she knew Max never took it off.

“You still do not understand. After all of these years and after all we have been through, we're Max and Chloe, remember? _We're always together, even when we're not._ ”

And with that, she took Max in her arms. She no longer cared about fate or destiny. She no longer cared about storms and timelines. She no longer cared what the future held for them. She had Max back and all was well.  
\---*--

**Why did I write this?**

  
A Little Background and Explanation

  
I want to say to anyone who read or is reading “Sacrifice”, thank you. Thank you for the time you put in to read it and I do hope you enjoyed it. I also want to thank my beta readers and everyone who gave me feedback and helped me with this journey.  
A quite common question you get when writing fan-fiction is “Why?” I am going to try and answer that and explain a little bit about what you just read.

First am not a writer. I am an academic. I am an academic advisor (meaning I help students figure out what they want to study at a college/university) and an adjunct professor of political science. Why do I tell you this? Simply, I have never written fiction before this and I am trained to write peer-reviewed, research articles. I prefer to study and analyze than create. So if my writing comes off formal, this is why. I did my best to craft fiction.

Second, I love Life is Strange (LIS) and Before the Storm (BTS). I started playing the games in 2018 about two months before my Mom passed in June. Her death was, and is still, hard on me. Arcadia Bay and the lives of Chloe, Max and Rachel became an escape for me. Yes it was hard emotionally to experience them in game but it allowed me to live, albeit briefly, in another world - far away from the pain I was experiencing here. Coping with the grief that they all experienced - betrayal, suicide, and death - helped me cope in the real world. It helped me process and make sense of loss. I am forever grateful to these games, DONTNOD, and Deck Nine for that reason.

Also, I am a major existentialist. I believe in the meaning and power of the moment especially those moments that define us. I believe we are greater than are tasks or toil and our meaning for being on this tiny ball of dirt in a huge universe is found in the moments… the conversation with a friend, the love of a partner, or the smile of a child.

So about the story itself - To me, there is only one ending. I know people feel that the “Bae” ending is not the real ending but I disagree. There is no way that DONTDNOD did not fall in love with Chloe and wanted to let her die. Even though the “Bay” ending felt more canon, I knew, deep within me, that “Bae” was the true ending.

Regardless, it is the only ending to me. Nothing intrigued me more that the idea of Max and Chloe riding off into the sunset together.

But yes, it felt incomplete. It felt like something was missing and it felt like a void. What happened next was always in the back of my mind.

Further, I have been conflicted about Rachel’s true nature. Was she truly in love with Chloe or was she using Chloe to get what she wants; a true narcissist that took advantage of people? First Chloe, then Frank then Jefferson. And this ultimately got her killed.

I concluded, YES to both. Chloe was a means to an end for her but she did love Chloe. They had a powerful connection that was indescribable, beyond words and anything in this world. It was fiery passion - and as described in the game, fire can be both good and bad. Yet her desire to get the hell out of Arcadia Bay was more powerful. And it was this narcissist view that ultimately cost her life.

Another thing that bothered me was Max’s leaving Chloe to move to Seattle. For five years Max did not reach out to her and this is devastating to Chloe. As happy as she is to have Max back in her life, she would have some deep, dark resentment and bitterness that they had to confront.

So as I became friends with the #WeAreLIS community on Twitter, a story began to formulate in my head. And follow me here:

What if in LIS Max was meant to reconnect with Chloe but mainly to learn about Rachel? What if Max could only temporarily save Chloe (i.e. Chloe dying over and over) and then she realized that, to truly save Chloe, she HAD to save Rachel? What if saving Rachel was the goal all along? What if Rachel and Chloe being together “fixed” the timeline that fate and destiny kept breaking?

This idea began to churn and build and a story started to take shape in my head. But there was one other truth I knew. I could not cause Max to make any sort of ultimate sacrifice. Nobody was dying in my story! I wanted the story to end happily. But she had to sacrifice something.

So the story wrote itself. I also began to wonder how Max would learn about Rachel and Chloe. Then it dawned on me...she could see the “moments of connection” from Before the Storm. Just like “moments of calm” in LIS, these are my fav moments in BTS.

Also, I wanted to redeem the character of Rachel. Rachel was destined for a dark path. I had to wonder how to have her understand it's about what she has and could have with Chloe, not what she wants.

I enjoyed writing it and to me it's my personal ending to the story of Max, Rachel and Chloe. Yes it’s open-ended and ambiguous but it is in the future and their lives are happy and content. This is what I wanted. That is why in the last two parts I wanted to hit the highpoints of them being a couple - graduation, personal success, engagement/marriage and children and reconnecting with Max.

What about Max? Where is she and what is she doing after she saved Rachel? She is still in that timeline. To me, she left Arcadia Bay and lived the life of a traveling photographer. She never settled down. I kinda see her like the main character in _The Secret Life of Walter Mitty_. She is going to these far off destinations, visiting the “off-the-beaten-path” places and living her life. She is doing what she dreamed of when she and Chloe were younger. And to be honest, if I write another fan-fic, this will be the story.

Also I wanted it to be canon. I wanted to stay as true to the characters, story and world as possible. So I researched where they might go, places in California, schools in New York, even criminal law in Oregon. I want it to seem real. I hope I succeeded in that goal.

So what about the songs? Each song frames the theme of the chapter. Music is such an emotive medium and songs greatly impact our feelings in both LIS and BTS. I cannot even listen to _Spanish Sahara_ without crying. I wanted my reader to have the power of music in each chapter too. Some songs are happy and some are not. I suggest, if you want, listen to the whole song on Youtube.

Many fans may have noticed I took liberty with Max’s power. No, the picture was not a Polaroid and Max still was able to travel beyond its borders. Please forgive me and grant me this slight artistic liberty. I felt that maybe Sera’s intervention would allow one powerful, final attempt to save Chloe and Rachel but it would also keep Max in a timeline where she had not come back to Arcadia Bay or seen Chloe since she was thirteen.

You might also wonder how by leaving Chloe, does Max save her? In my mind, fate and destiny conspired against her and Chloe. As long as Max and Chloe were together in that timeline (with Arcadia Bay destroyed), fate and destiny would continue to pursue them and drive them apart. Fate and destiny were driving Max to save Rachel and she realized this so she had to leave Chloe.

Finally, I know what you are thinking: “Are you Amberprice or Pricefield?” It appears I am Amberprice because Rachel and Chloe are married and Max is on the outside of that relationship. I hope I made it clear that, to me, Max and Chloe have a connection beyond love and physical emotion. Yes Rachel has Chloe’s romantic love - to borrow from the Greek, _Eros_. But Max and Chloe’s love extends beyond Eros into _Agape_ \- unconditional love with no bounds. Max’s willing to sacrifice for Chloe is beyond anything Rachel and Chloe has. So I hope you understand (like Rachel does) and if you took one thing away from what I wrote….in the truest and purest nature of love….

_**This story is both Amberprice and Pricefield.** _

Thanks for reading,  
Derek  
21 April 2019

**Author's Note:**

> Disclaimer: This is a work of fiction set in the Life is Strange universe. Any resemblance or connection to any person, place or thing, living or dead is purely coincidental. While some places mentioned in this story are real, the author does not endorse those places nor has ever visited them himself. Finally, at this current stage in the history of humankind, time travel is not real. Any person attempting to participate in said travel assumes all risk and liability.


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